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1
SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS
OF INDIAN ORIGIN: A CASE STUDY
A THESIS
Submitted by
L. SURESH MALLYA
for the award of the Degree
of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES,
Dr. M.G.R.
EDUCATIONAL AND RESEARCH INSTITUTE
UNIVERSITY (Declared under section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956)
CHENNAI - 600 095
AUGUST 2011
2
BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the research work titled “Successful Entrepreneurs of
Indian Origin: A Case Study” is the bonafide work of L. Suresh Mallya
(Reg. No. MNG 007 D 001), who carried out the research under my
supervision. Certified further, that to the best of my knowledge, the work
reported herein does not form part of any other thesis or dissertation on the
basis of which a Degree or award was conferred on earlier occasion on this or
any other candidate.
3
DECLARATION
This is to certify that the thesis titled, “Successful Entrepreneurs of Indian
Origin: A Case Study” submitted by me to the Dr. M.G.R. Educational and
Research Institute University for the award of the degree of Ph.D is a bonafide
record of research work carried out by me under the supervision of
Dr. N.R.V. Prabhu. The contents of this thesis, in full or in parts, have not been
submitted to any other institute or university for the award of any degree or
diploma.
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SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS OF INDIAN ORIGIN
A CASE STUDY
ABSTRACT
An organization comes into existence only because of the efforts put in
by an individual, who would be prepared to assume responsibility of leading
the enterprise with him. For that, the individual must have special quality that
is known as entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship as an economic activity emerges and functions in
sociological and cultural environment. It could be conceived as an individual’s
free choice activity or a social group’s occupation or profession.
The entrepreneurs perform vital function in economic development of a
nation. They have been referred to as the human agents needed to mobilize
capital, to exploit natural resources, to often develop innovative products or
concepts, to create markets and to carry on business. It may be construed that
the entrepreneurial contribution spells the difference between prosperity and
poverty among nations.
A successful entrepreneur is always aware of the new developments and
changes that take place around him in the society and is prepared to adapt to
the changing needs of the society. He is the central point, around whom all
other factors of production, productive resources and techniques shall revolve.
He integrates talent, abilities and drives to transform the resources into
profitable ventures.
Studies on entrepreneurs have revealed that personality and cultural or
social factors are related to entrepreneurial behaviour. Traits such as self
confidence, creativity, persistence, calculated risk taking capacity,
5
determination, need for achievement, individuality, leadership, versatility,
optimism and liking for challenges characterize the entrepreneurial person.
A person who has a business of his own is called an entrepreneur. But
what differentiate an entrepreneur from a successful entrepreneur are his
achievements in the field of his business.
Expected outcome of the study
• To explore the traits of Indian entrepreneurs
• To differentiate successful Indian entrepreneurs from entrepreneurs
• To trace the success stories of selected successful Indian entrepreneurs
• To identify their winning strategies for success in business
• To summarize the findings of the study and establishing as bench mark
for future entrepreneurs to be successful
Methodology of the Study
Primary and Secondary data: Interview and secondary sources were
referred in this case study method. Out of the available entrepreneurs in India,
these few (fifty) successful entrepreneurs, who had their investment options
from their own sources, were considered for this study.
Based on the hypothesis proposed as above, a sample of fifty successful
Indian entrepreneurs is carefully selected for the study. The methodology
chosen is case study method; their history is studied in depth, the factors
deciphered as to identify their secret of success.
6
Suggestions are made to resolve the various issues relating to
entrepreneurship in small scale industries. The suggestions are given
categorically to the government, to the banks and other financial institutions
and to the entrepreneurs.
7
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
My profound thanks and deep sense of gratitude are due to my
Supervisor and Guide, Dr. N.R.V. Prabhu, for his committed supervision and
guidance to acquire right perception and perspective for carrying out this
research. But for his patience and time spared for discussion, I would never
have been able to complete this thesis.
Thanks to Dr. S. Ramalingam, Head of the Department, Department of
Management Studies, for his encouragement and valuable suggestions. I also
sincerely acknowledge the patience, support, unstinted cooperation and service
rendered by my wife.
I also take this opportunity to thank honorable Chancellor,
Mr. A.C. Shanmugham, for his motivation and encouragement. I also owe
my sincere thanks to Dean (Research) for providing the infrastructure and help
to carry out the research. I am grateful to all the staff colleagues of my
department for their kind assistance at every stage of this thesis work.
L. Suresh Mallya
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT iv-vi
LIST OF TABLES
1. Table 3.0 Distribution of the type of entrepreneurs'
families
63
2. Table 3.1 Entrepreneurs’ Ambitions 65
3. Table 3.2 Reasons compelling entrepreneurs to enter
industry
66
4. Table 3.3 Factors facilitating entrepreneurship 68
5. Table 3.4 Distribution of expectations stimulating the
entrepreneurs’ desire to start industry
69
6. Table 3.9 Reasons for the dissatisfaction with the
location of unit
70
7. Table 4.22 Usefulness of attending Entrepreneurship
Development Programme
71
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Meaning of Entrepreneurship 1
1.2 Importance of Entrepreneurship 2
1.3 Classification of Entrepreneurs 4
1.4 Characteristics of successful entrepreneurs 5
1.5 Entrepreneurial scenario in India 6
1.6 Growth of Entrepreneurs 6
1.7 Relevance of study 7
1.8 Need for the study 8
1.9 Scope of the study 8
1.10 Expected outcome of the study 9
1.11 Methodology of the Study 9
1.12 Limitations of the study 9
1.13 Scope and organisation of the thesis 10
10
CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Introduction 11
2.2 Review of Related Studies 11
CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Methodology 58
3.1.1 Research design 58
3.1.2 Research questions 59
3.1.3 Scope and limitations of the study 60
3.1.4 Climate and concept for the study 61
3.1.5 Presentation of the study 63
3.1.6 Entrepreneurs' ambitions 63
3.2 Reasons compelling entrepreneurs to enter industry 65
3.3 Factors facilitating entrepreneurship 67
3.4 Expectations of entrepreneurs 68
References 72
CHAPTER 4 CASES STUDIED 73
CHAPTER 5 FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS 167
BIBLIOGRAPHY 202
VITAE i-iii
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 MEANING OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
The definition of entrepreneurship has been debated among scholars,
educators, researchers, and policy makers since the concept was first
established in the early 1700’s. The term “entrepreneurship” comes from the
French verb “entreprendre” and the German word “unternehmen”, both mean
to “undertake”. Bygrave and Hofer in1891 defined the entrepreneurial process
as ‘involving all the functions, activities, and actions associated with
perceiving of opportunities and creation of organizations to pursue them’.
Joseph Schumpeter introduced the modern definition of ‘entrepreneurship’ in
1934. According to Schumpeter, “the carrying out of new combinations we call
‘enterprise’,” and “the individuals whose function it is to carry them out we
call ‘entrepreneurs’.” Schumpeter tied entrepreneurship to the creation of five
basic “new combinations” namely: introduction of a new product, introduction
of a new method of production, opening of a new market, the conquest of a
new source of supply and carrying out of a new organization of industry.
Peter Drucker proposed that ‘entrepreneurship’ is a practice. What this
means is that entrepreneurship is not a state of being nor is it characterized by
making planes that are not acted upon. Entrepreneurship begins with action,
creation of new organization. This organization may or may not become self-
sustaining and in fact, may never earn significant revenues. But, when
individuals create a new organization, they have entered the entrepreneurship
paradigm.
Entrepreneur is a borrowed word from the French language that refers to
a person who undertakes and operates a new venture, and assumes some
13
accountability for the inherent risks. Being in business or being an entrepreneur
is about taking risks and confronting challenges.
Entrepreneurs build companies that are specifically crafted to exploit a
particular opportunity. This gives them an advantage over older companies that
were designed in response to challenges of the past and must change to adapt
to today’s requirements. Entrepreneurs can build new companies. They can
also rejuvenate existing companies via buyouts and turnarounds. They can also
build new companies inside existing companies, which can be called corporate
entrepreneurship.
1.2 IMPORTANCE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
An organization comes into existence only because of the efforts put in
by an individual, who would be prepared to assume responsibility of leading
the enterprise with him. For that, the individual must have special quality that
is known as entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship as an economic activity emerges and functions in
sociological and cultural environment. It could be conceived as an individual’s
free choice activity or a social group’s occupation or profession.
The basic concept of entrepreneurship entails an effective and deliberate
inner urge to take risk in terms of uncertainties and an intuition. In short, an
entrepreneur shows sagacity to jump into untested waters and face the
consequences, with a strong self conviction that he will successfully encounter
the sharks and befriend the dolphins.
The common definition for an entrepreneur is a person, who organizes,
manages, and takes the risk of running a business or enterprise. The
entrepreneurs perform vital function in economic development of a nation.
They have been referred to as the human agents needed to mobilize capital, to
exploit natural resources, to often develop innovative products or concepts, to
14
create markets and to carry on business. It may be construed that the
entrepreneurial contribution spells the difference between prosperity and
poverty among nations.
The importance of entrepreneurs to progress cannot be more succinctly
expressed than the statement – no entrepreneur, no development. The inactivity
or scarcity of entrepreneurs has for sometimes been the factor seen by many
Asian countries as a major hindrance to economic development. The
availability of abundant natural resources, skilled and unskilled labour, and
capital has not proven itself sufficient enough to result in a surge of
entrepreneurial zeal among the people.
One of the important inputs in any economic development of a country
is entrepreneurship. More the entrepreneurship activities, better the
development. Entrepreneurship is the life blood of any economy and it applies
more to a developing economy like India. The areas of development are:
• Taking to higher rate of economic growth by creation of value.
• Speed up the process of industrial use of the factors of production.
• Creation of employment opportunities.
• Dispersal of economic activities to different sectors of economy and
identifying new avenues of growth.
• Development of backward and tribal areas.
• Better social changes.
• Improvement of the standard of living of different weaker sections in the
society.
• Bring socio - political change in the society.
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• Develop technological know-how.
• Improve culture of business and expand commercial activities.
• Act as a change agent to meet the requirements of the changing markets
and customer preferences.
• Develop a culture of achievement orientation.
1.3 CLASSIFICATION OF ENTREPRENEURS
In the early phases of economic development entrepreneurs will have
initiative to start new ventures and find innovative ways to start new enterprise.
New products, new techniques and new markets are found out by innovative
entrepreneurs. It is innovative entrepreneurs who built the modern capitalism.
The enterprising spirit of the innovative entrepreneurs opens new markets and
develops enterprises.
There is a second group of entrepreneurs generally referred to as
initiative entrepreneurs who copy or imitate suitable innovations made by the
innovative entrepreneurs. They also contribute to the development of the
economy especially in underdeveloped countries. The adaptation is mainly due
to suit the local conditions. They bring industries to the poorer countries.
The third type is Fabian entrepreneur. By nature these entrepreneurs are
shy and lazy. They follow the set procedures, customs, traditions and religions.
They do not venture to take risks. Usually they are second generation
entrepreneurs in a business family enterprise.
The fourth type is Drone entrepreneurs who refuse to copy or use
opportunities that come on their way. They are conventional in their approach
and stick to their set practices, products, production methods and ideas. They
may be termed laggards. In such cases the organization loses market and may
be pushed out of the market.
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1.4 CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS
Entrepreneur is a human being, who conceives in his mind an industrial
enterprise. For this purpose he provides considerable efforts for fructifying his
dream. It is a purposeful penetrating action for initiating, promoting and
managing the economic activity or activities for the production and distribution
of wealth. There should be a person with a mind, heart and intention to
combine them all and convert them into production or creation of goods and
services wanted by the people. It is the entrepreneur who has to come forward
to execute these activities related to production with the sole purpose of
satisfying the customer.
A successful entrepreneur is always aware of the new developments and
changes that take place around him in the society and is prepared to adapt to
the changing needs of the society. He is the central point, around whom all
other factors of production, productive resources and techniques shall revolve.
He integrates talent, abilities and drives to transform the resources into
profitable ventures.
Studies on entrepreneurs have revealed that personality and cultural or
social factors are related to entrepreneurial behaviour. Traits such as self
confidence, creativity, persistence, calculated risk taking capacity,
determination, need for achievement, individuality, leadership, versatility,
optimism and liking for challenges characterize the entrepreneurial person.
A person who has a business of his own is called an entrepreneur. But
what differentiate an entrepreneur from a successful entrepreneur is his
achievements in the field of his business.
17
1.5 ENTREPRENEURIAL SCENARIO IN INDIA
During post independence era, entrepreneurship has begun to grow
faster. The Government of India has spelt through industrial policy statements
steps for rapid and balanced industrialization of the country. The government
recognizes the vital role of the private sector in accelerating industrial
development especially after the economic liberalization in 1991.
The government pursues the following objectives:
• To maintain a proper distribution of economic power between public and
private sectors.
• To disseminate the entrepreneurial acumen concentrated in a few dominant
communities to a large number of industrially potential people of varied
social strata.
• To encourage the spirit of industrialization by spreading entrepreneurship
from the existing centres to other cities, towns and villages.
• To achieve the above objectives the government has decided to encourage
the development of small scale units. It provides various incentives and
concessions to SSI in the form of capital, technical know how, markets and
land to establish industrial units particularly in the backward areas of the
country.
1.6 GROWTH OF ENTREPRENEURS
The business history of India comes out with names of successful
entrepreneurs such as Tata, Birla, Modi, Dalmia, Kirloskar and others who
started their enterprises in a small way and made a good fortune. Post
liberalization we have witnessed the latest generation of entrepreneurs such as
18
Ambani, Ruia, Azim Premji, Murthy, Siva Nadar etc. Scanning their personal
characteristics show certain prominent traits:
• Willingness to work hard and to persevere even if the business is in the
verge of failure.
• Having a strong desire to achieve high goals in business.
• Undying optimism for a future and not disturbed by others and follow their
own route.
• Independent and not guided by the current problems besieging them.
• Good foresight to visualize the likely changes in the business and taking
timely actions accordingly.
• Ability to bring together all the resources required for starting the
enterprise.
• Initiating research and innovative activities to cater to changing needs of
customers.
1.7 RELEVANCE OF STUDY
The study of entrepreneurship has relevance today, not only because it
helps entrepreneurs better fulfill their personal needs but because of the
economic contribution of the new ventures. More than increasing national
income by creating new jobs, entrepreneurship acts as a positive force in
economic growth by serving as the bridge between innovation and market
place. Although government gives great support to basic and applied research,
it has to have great success in translating the technological innovations to
products or services. Although intrapreneurship offers a promise of marriage of
those research capabilities and business skills that one expects from a large
19
corporation, the results have not been spectacular. This leaves the entrepreneur,
who frequently lacks both technical and business skills, to serve as the major
link in the process of innovation, development, and economic growth and
revitalization. The study of entrepreneurship and education of potential
entrepreneurs are essential parts of any attempt to strengthen this link so
essential to a country’s economic well-being.
1.8 NEED FOR THE STUDY
Modern India is in need of substantial growth of the industrial and
agricultural sectors for her march towards a global power and to successfully
meet the social obligations such as poverty alleviation, raising standard of
living, and meaningful employment to all. The role of entrepreneurs in this
aspect is highly significant. Indian entrepreneurs have been instrumental in
shaping the destiny of millions by providing them employment in their
enterprises, venturing into untested arena, and introducing innovative business
strategies. This naturally draws our attention to investigate as to how Indian
entrepreneurs succeed in their ventures and the essence of such enquiry can be
used as benchmark for budding and aspiring entrepreneurs.
1.9 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The Indian entrepreneurs selected for study are based on the conditions
that they have started their career either as low level employees of some
organizations or started their venture with their own meagre investments. They
are their own masters, in the sense that they did not have back up from their
family members either in the form of financial support or inheritance of family
wealth. They started their own enterprise with a humble beginning, and slowly
and steadily picked up their business purely due to their entrepreneurship
qualities. They faced hardships in course of their growth, but never gave up.
The ingenuity and the spirit of entrepreneurship always kept up their hopes and
confidence and eventually proved to be successful entrepreneurs.
20
1.10 EXPECTED OUTCOME OF THE STUDY
• To explore the traits of Indian entrepreneurs
• To differentiate successful Indian entrepreneurs from entrepreneurs
• To trace the success stories of selected successful Indian entrepreneurs
• To identify their winning strategies for success in business
• To summarize the findings of the study and establishing as bench mark for
future entrepreneurs to be successful
1.11 METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY
Primary and Secondary data: Interview and secondary sources were
referred in this case study method. Out of the available entrepreneurs in India,
these few (fifty) successful entrepreneurs, who had their investment options
from their own sources, were considered for this study.
Based on the hypothesis proposed as above, a sample of fifty successful
Indian entrepreneurs is carefully selected for the study. The methodology
chosen is case study method; their history is studied in depth, the factors
deciphered as to identify their secret of success.
1.12 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
Due to time constraint, the researcher could not undertake extensive
journeys for data collection. The difficulty in identifying the qualified
entrepreneurs in India to meet the conditions laid down in the hypothesis, led
to a sample size of fifty only. Hence, the result drawn out of the study is likely
to have some error or bias. Nevertheless, the research findings are expected to
throw light on specific factors for success and can act as guidelines for the
future generation of entrepreneurs.
21
1.13 SCOPE AND ORGANISATION OF THE THESIS
For reasons best known to be explained in the ensuing chapters, it was
decided that this exploratory study of the successful entrepreneurs may best be
undertaken through a content analysis of undisguised and published cases in
the descriptive methodology. A total of fifty such cases were identified and
analyzed, few of them were interviewed with a view to corroborating the case
data with the interview data.
In all, therefore, the samples consisted of around hundred ventures got
reduced to fifty. The findings of the study and the review of the relevant
literature are arranged in five chapters. It may be noted that in presenting the
findings, I have deviated slightly from the convention of summarizing all the
research literature on the topic in one chapter, and have spread them over
different categories, depending on the sub-topics to which the findings
discussed in the respective chapters are related.
The second chapter comprehensively reviews the literature related to
this study. Chapter III explains the methodology which is a combination of the
case method and the survey method (popularly known as the case survey
(method). In the next chapter, namely Chapter IV, provides some empirical
support for the paradigm of strategic choice (as opposed to that of
environmental determinism) underlying the theoretical model as proposed in
the earlier chapters. Following the discussions, in Chapter V, narrates the
process of identifying successful entrepreneurs with their entrepreneurial
heuristics and thumb rules so identified with findings and conclusions.
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CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 INTRODUCTION
Several studies have been made in India and abroad on specific aspects
of the field of entrepreneurship. The researcher is interested in presenting here
a few studies from India and abroad relevant to the objectives of the present
study, namely, to identify the success factors behind the successful Indian
entrepreneurs.
2.2 REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES
J.S. Saini and B.S. Rathore (2001) in their book titled Entrepreneurship:
Theory and Practice, deal with entrepreneurial philosophy, where the success
of entrepreneurs has been discussed. According to the authors, success of an
entrepreneur depends on the entrepreneur’s willingness to hold responsibility
for his own work. Though the risk of failure is always present, he takes risks
by assuming responsibility for his actions. Learning from past experiences will
help channel his actions to obtain better results and persistent efforts will yield
success for sure.
Bholanath Dutta (2009) in his book, Entrepreneurship Management:
Texts & Cases, deals in detail on the factors influencing entrepreneurship, viz.,
education, legality, infrastructure, finance, procedures, IT and communication,
rapid changes, size of the firm, R & D and technology, stakeholders and
globalization. The author has elucidated the characteristics of a successful
entrepreneur at length. According to him, there are many critical factors
contributing success such as skills, innovative mind, providing completeness to
the factors of production, decision making, creative personality, plan making,
23
dynamic leadership, creator of wealth, self confidence and ambitiousness, risk
bearing, and adventurous mind.
S.S.Khanka (2009) in his book Entrepreneurship Development
illustrates the personal characteristics of successful entrepreneurs as hard work,
desire for high achievement, high optimism, independence, foresight, good
orgainising capacity, and innovativeness. According to the author, success of a
small enterprise is, to a great extent, attributed to the success of the
entrepreneur himself.
David H. Holt (2000) in his book Entrepreneurship: New Venture
Creation has dealt in detail about the success factors for entrepreneurs. Holt
says at the top of the success factor list is the “Entrepreneurial Team”
comprising of partners, associates or extensive network of advisors.
A typical successful entrepreneur has an average education, in his
thirties, and has solid job experience. Most technical entrepreneurs tend to start
businesses closely related to what they did in previous career positions. Holt is
emphasizing the point that success is closely related to a solid knowledge base
and substantial experience in related field of operations. Moreover, they will
also have well developed social and business relationships and therefore, have
a strong foundation for building a team or support network.
Mary Kay Copeland (2010) in her article, Strategies of a Successful
Entrepreneur: Nature or Nurture, in MBA Review, has deliberated on the
characteristics of a successful entrepreneur. According to the author, the
behaviours and personality characteristics that leading researchers have found
in effective and successful entrepreneurs are – self confidence, risk taking
capacity, discerning power, inquisitiveness, tolerance of ambiguity and
uncertainty, creativeness, resourcefulness, affinity for autonomy and control,
opportunism, optimism, action-orientedness, intuitiveness, persuasion,
adaptation, resilience, tenacity and courage.
24
Translating these attributes into behaviours is believed to increase an
entrepreneur’s effectiveness. These include – total commitment, determination
and perseverance, drive to achieve and grow, orientation to goals and
opportunities, taking initiative and personal responsibility, veridical awareness
and a sense of humour, seeking and using feedback, internal locus of control,
tolerance of ambiguity, stress and uncertainty, calculative risk taking and risk
sharing, low need for status and power, integrity and reliability, decisiveness,
urgency and patience, learning from failure, team builder and hero maker.
Mahima Rai (2010) in her article, Horning Entrepreneurial Skills: Role
of B Schools, in MBA Review, enumerates the characteristics of a successful
entrepreneur – self confidence and optimism, extra-ordinary energy and
diligence, ability to take calculated risks, strong urge to achieve and creativity,
ability to respond positively to challenges, leadership qualities, flexibility and
adaptability, responsive to suggestions/criticism, initiative, resourcefulness and
perseverance, independent minded with ability to get along well with others,
perception and foresight, versatile knowledge of the market, government rules
etc. The common thread in all entrepreneurial ventures is that the leaders
driving these organizations have the ability to identify opportunity and create
an organization to carry it through the creation of value for them.
Sujatha Mukherjee (2010) in her article, Profiling the Urban Women
Micro-entrepreneurs in India, in the Journal of Entrepreneurship Development,
draws the picture of an entrepreneur as a) a person who assumes the risk
associated with uncertainty b) an adventurer who undertakes risks, brings
together the capital and labour required for the work c) an innovator d) a
decision maker e) an economic leader f) a manager or a superintendent g) an
organizer and coordinator of economic resources h) an owner i) a contractor j)
a referee and k) a locator of resources for alternative uses. According to the
author, being entrepreneurial involves combining personal characteristics and
financial means and resources within an environment to set up a business.
25
Lakshman Prasad and Subhasish Das (2008) in their book
Entrepreneurial Climate: An Assorted Coverage make an intensive study on
entrepreneurship involving psychological as well as socio-cultural milieu,
viewing entrepreneurs as innovators. The integrated behavioural framework,
suggests the pooling of traits such as achievement orientation, strategic vision,
personal resourcefulness, innovativeness and opportunity seeking at high
intensities in non-restrictive environment to give rise to an enterprise.
Some surveys conducted by the authors on the subject of identifying
entrepreneurial traits bring out a host of some distinguishing features of
successful entrepreneurs. They are: leadership and vision, creativity,
dynamism, team building spirit, commitment and goal orientation, and problem
solving temperament.
Dr. A. Peter (2004) in his book Youth Entrepreneurship Everywhere
explains youth entrepreneurship as a process of turning ideas into opportunities
and opportunities into successful businesses through the practical application
of one-to-one mentoring model, entrepreneurship awareness-building skills,
personal empowerment skills, entrepreneurial/enterprise skills, business
planning skills, business management skills, support services availing skills
and business improvement skills.
The author substantiates through the example of a growing child that
enormous entrepreneurial potentials are hidden inside every youth. The hidden
treasures are the entrepreneurial potentials hidden inside every youth waiting to
be utilized. The author says that we are all entrepreneurial in nature, because
everyone has been born with many entrepreneurial skills such as courage,
creativeness, initiative, self-confidence, self-motivation, risk-taking, failure
managing, persistence etc.
R. Nagendran, Dr. K. Banumathy and Dr. N.R.V.Prabhu (2002) in their
book Entrepreneurship Management and Development of Small Business
26
explain the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs. A successful
entrepreneur is always aware of the new developments and change that take
place around him in the society and is prepared to adapt to the changing needs
of the society. He is the pivot around which all other factor of production,
productive resources, and techniques should revolve. He combines talents,
abilities and drive to transform the resources into profitable undertakings.
According to the authors, studies on entrepreneur have revealed that
personality and cultural or social factors are related to entrepreneurial
behaviour. Cross cultural studies covering India, Japan, Guinea, Malaysia,
Mexico, Philippines and Indonesia indicate that traits such as self confidence,
creativity, persistence, calculated risk taking capacity, determination, need for
achievement, initiative taking flexibility, individuality, leadership, versatility,
optimism and liking for challenge, characterize the entrepreneurial person.
Priti Krishnan (2007) in ICFAI Business School Case Studies on
Entrepreneurship narrates the qualities of an entrepreneur in the overview as:
he takes risks and is innovative, opportunistic, creative, flexible, dynamic and
growth oriented. However, each of these facets is neither conclusive nor
definitive. For example, a common notion that entrepreneurs are only those
individuals who start their own companies, neither Jack Welch of GE or Ray
Kroc of McDonalds did that. But few would deny that they are entrepreneurs.
This reflects that not all are the same. Although they share some common
characteristics, every entrepreneurial style is unique in its own way.
B. Badhai (2001) in his book Entrepreneurship for Engineers defines
entrepreneur as a person who has already started an enterprise or who is in the
process of starting one. The author enlists the characteristics of an entrepreneur
in Indian conditions as – need for achievement, risk taking attitude, need to
influence others, ability to sense opportunities, positive self concept, level of
expectation, initiative, inclination to accept challenges, independent thought
27
and action, problem solving attitude, inclination for searching environment,
time boundness, sense of dissatisfaction, result orientation, influence to get
through bureaucratic red tapism, financial soundness etc.
Poornima M Charantimath (2008) in her book Entrepreneurship
Development and Small Business Enterprises narrates some of the
characteristics that every successful entrepreneur must possess in adequate
measure. They are – creativity, innovation, dynamism, leadership, team
building, achievement motivation, problem solving, goal orientation, risk
taking and decision making ability and commitment. According to the author,
ideas usually evolve through a creative process whereby imaginative people
bring them to reality, nurture them and develop them successfully. The creative
process for an idea involves five stages – germination, preparation, incubation,
illumination and verification.
Thomas W. Zimmerer and Norman M. Scarborough (2006) in their
book Essentials of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management,
describe entrepreneur as a person who creates a new business in the face of risk
and uncertainty for the purpose of achieving profit and growth by identifying
significant opportunities and assembling the necessary resources to capitalize
on them.
Although research studies have identified several characteristics
entrepreneurs tend to exhibit, according to the authors, none of them has
isolated a set of traits required for success. Nevertheless, they have given a
brief summary of the entrepreneurial profile for success. They are – desire for
responsibility, preference for moderate risk, confidence in their ability to
succeed, desire for immediate feedback, high level of energy, future
orientation, skill at organizing and value for achievement for money. The
authors have supplemented other characteristics frequently exhibited by
28
entrepreneurs as high degree of commitment, tolerance of ambiguity,
flexibility and tenacity.
The authors make a summary about the entrepreneurial personality at
the end of their research, which says that entrepreneurs are not of one mold; no
one set of characteristics can predict who will become entrepreneurs and
whether or not they will succeed. Anyone, regardless of age, race, gender,
colour, national origin, or any other characteristics can become an
entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is not a mystery; it is a practical discipline. It is
not a genetic trait; it is a skill that most people can learn.
Robert D. Hisrich, Michael P. Peters and Dean A. Shepherd (2007) in
their book on Entrepreneurship have identified a few capabilities or personal
characteristics that an entrepreneur should possess. According to him, the
entrepreneur should have adequate commitment, motivation and skills to start
and build a business. The entrepreneur must determine if the management team
has the necessary complementary skills to succeed. Some key characteristics of
a successful entrepreneur are: a) Motivator – an entrepreneur must build a
team, keep it motivated and provide an environment for individual growth and
career development. b) Self-confidence – entrepreneurs must have belief in
themselves and the ability to achieve their goals. c) Long-term involvement –
an entrepreneur must be committed to the project with a time horizon of five to
seven years. d) High energy level – success of an entrepreneur demands the
ability to work long hours for sustained periods of time. e) Persistent problem-
solver – he must have an intense desire to complete a task or solve a problem,
creativity is an essential ingredient. f) Initiative – he must be able to set
challenging but realistic goals. g) Moderate risk taker and learn from failures.
These personal traits go a long way in making an entrepreneur successful.
However, no entrepreneur possesses total strength. In such cases, he acquires
and/or associates and thus strengthens his enterprise.
29
James J. Berna (1960) brings us to the issue of the appropriate criteria
for evaluating entrepreneurial activity in under-developed countries. A country
with little or no industrial tradition can hardly produce innovators capable of
substantial transformations without first producing and in large numbers, the
humbler type of entrepreneur. This type of entrepreneurship is a complex
phenomenon involving numerous sub-functions. Chief among these sub-
functions are business promotion, capital provision, and risk-bearing, technical
innovation and adaptation, and business management. The list of sub-functions
enumerated brings out clearly the fact that entrepreneurship is basically a type
of human skill, or more accurately a combination of skills and abilities. The
most important of these are organizational and administrative ability, some
degree of business and technical knowledge, alertness to opportunity,
willingness to accept change and the psychological capacity to assume risk.
According to James J. Berna, a true entrepreneur besides possessing
functional qualities must also possess a broad personality which helps in
developing initiative and drive to accomplish great tasks and face challenges
squarely. The author has stressed the following qualities of a good
entrepreneur:
1. He is an enterprising individual, is energetic, hardworking, resourceful,
aware of new opportunities and able to adjust himself to changing
conditions with ease and willingness to assume risks involved in change.
2. He is interested in an advancing technology and in improving the quality
of his product or service.
3. He is interested in expanding the scale of his operation by reinvesting his
earnings.
4. He visualizes changes and adapts to changing conditions.
5. He is a firm believer in planning and systematic work.
6. He works for the society at large and for the good of his fellow-beings.
30
The above qualities sum up, what is usually implied from the phrase, the
“spirit of enterprise”. It is difficult to conceivers of a first-rate industrial
entrepreneur who is not adaptable to change, anxious to grow large and
improve technologically. Entrepreneurship appears as a personal quality which
enables certain individuals to make decision with far-reaching consequences.
The personal qualities that contribute to the success of an entrepreneur are
motivation towards achievement, creativity and clarity among others.
James J. Berna narrates James T. McCrory’s study on a small industry
in a North Indian town. In contrast to industrial entrepreneurs of a mercantile
background, McCrory found that the craftsman-entrepreneur he encountered
had “all the qualities of good entrepreneur”. These qualities he describes as
follows: They live frugally and save. They are highly skilled themselves or
employ skilled personnel. They are quality conscious, able to make
improvements in techniques on their own, quick to learn from others. As
entrepreneurs, they are tenacious to the extreme. When one industrial venture
fails, their first act is to begin scrapping together savings for another. As
manufacturers, they are versatile and resourceful with the few resources at their
command. If they cannot buy a machine, they will build it themselves. If they
cannot reproduce a technique, they will improvise one of their own. Most are
as sensitive to new demands and market changes as their information and their
circumstances permit.
Based on his findings, McCrory has laid emphasis on such qualities as
to live frugally and save, tenacity of purpose, versatility and resourcefulness as
the main attributes of entrepreneurs. His further observation is that there are
neither technological nor organizational reasons why small industrial firms of
this type should not grow steadily and without losing the identity into medium
or even large firms.
31
H. Nandan (2007) in his book Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship
highlights on the ultimate success in any entrepreneurial endeavour. According
to him, the success depends on the personality, that is to say, the composite
characteristics, of the entrepreneur. The entrepreneurial personality denotes the
totality of the entrepreneur’s individual character traits, including attitude,
habits, emotional tendencies and behavioural patterns. In fact, extraordinary
personal traits not only constitute entrepreneurs, but also serve to identify them
from others.
Entrepreneurial function requires certain distinctively special qualities
and skills. Individuals aspiring to become successful entrepreneurs are
expected to possess distinctive abilities, rather than the requisite qualities and
skills, to achieve their desired goals. Studies have revealed that all
entrepreneurs crowned with success do not and need not necessarily possess a
specified range of exactly similar attributes. In other words, no two
entrepreneurs will have ever their competencies absolutely identical in nature,
intensity and combination. However, a belief strongly held by many suggests
that most entrepreneurs commonly share quite a few distinctive qualities and
skills that are not evident in average people.
The primary attributes said to be closely associated with the most
enterprising individuals are: a) inquiring mind studying the business
environment and looking for opportunities to penetrate into the market, and b)
unceasing alertness adjusting business strategies so as to reach their targets.
Entrepreneurs, in particular, have foresightedness to ascertain market trends
and the ability to assess consumer needs and wants for change. Entrepreneurs
understand that in the struggle to gain ground or to survive in a competitive
free market economy, the need for innovations becomes all the more
important. In short, the successful entrepreneurs possess such characteristics as
creative frame of mind, desire to break away from the age-old traditional
practices, think deeply of varied untried ideas aimed at creating new means of
32
production, new devices, products or services, conceptualize new ideas, and
possess independent energetic spirit to translate their thoughts into realities.
They decide very clearly what they want, determine the course of action and
prioritise the steps they must execute. They are able to assemble the required
resources, risk uncertainties and face challenges.
Owner-entrepreneurs exercise persevering attention, clear thinking and
good judgement in dealing with day-to-day operations. They have interest and
knowledge in practical business matters, and power to grasp and sort out
problems. They are adept in coping with difficult situations and dealing with
all sorts of people. Most entrepreneurs possess sound health, dynamic
leadership, emotional stability and organizing ability. Above all, the
noteworthy typical personality traits commonly possessed by the vast majority
of entrepreneurs include sharp intelligence, keenness of perception in practical
business matters, optimism, determination, high level energy, persuasiveness,
single-mindedness and hard work.
Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI-I) (unpublished
data), in its reference book, Developing New Entrepreneurs, draws a detailed
picture about an ideal entrepreneur and keeps certain standards as yardstick for
identifying future successful entrepreneurs. The most frequently cited personal
variables found to be predictable in successful entrepreneurs which the EDI-I
selection process attempts to identify include the following: need to achieve,
moderate and calculated risk-taking, initiative and independent, problem
solving, hopeful about future and high level of aspiration, time boundness,
tendency to analyze the environment, and desire to influence.
An international research project to identify and validate the
entrepreneurial traits and competencies, in which EDI-I participated, identified
Personal Entrepreneurial Characteristics (PECs) by studying the tasks,
33
activities and behaviour of successful and average entrepreneurs of India,
Malawi and Ecuador.
The important entrepreneurial competencies which emerged as relevant
for success in entrepreneurial career among all the three countries include:
a) Achievement cluster: initiative; seeing and acting on opportunities;
persistence; information seeking; concern for high quality work;
commitment to work contracted; efficiency orientation.
b) Thinking and problem solving cluster: systematic planning; problem
solving.
c) Personal maturity cluster: self confidence.
d) Influential cluster: persuasion; use of influence strategies.
e) Directing and controlling cluster: assertiveness.
The findings of the research also suggested that most of these PECs are
cross - culturally common, irrespective of personal background of the
entrepreneurs, their social status, values, culture and the level of economic
growth of the society. This research showed strong evidence that the success of
an entrepreneur in a small business hinges upon these PECs which include a
cluster of competencies pertaining to achievement motivation – the concept
used by EDI-I in the selection adopted and spread to other parts of the country.
Based on the studies made on the characteristics/traits of personalities of
successful entrepreneurs, S.B. Srivastava (1992) in his book A Practical Guide
to Industrial Entrepreneurs says that some of the qualities are inherent, but
others are most acquired. Broadly speaking, four qualities are the most
important ones, i.e., intelligence, motivation, knowledge and opportunity.
While intelligence is inherent, knowledge is generally gained by a continuous
34
process. The dynamic and successful entrepreneurs generally create their own
opportunities; the government is, however, greatly instrumental in creating a
basic infrastructure and opportunities. The qualities of entrepreneurs may
further be sub-divided as under:
Capacity to take risk, capacity to work hard, desire for deferred
consumption, capacity to take advantage of an external situation, imagination,
emulation, initiative, sociability and flexibility, inventive ability and
knowledge – both informative and technical.
Meredith Geoffrey G, Nelson Robert E, and Neck Philip A (1983) in
their article, The Practice of Entrepreneurship in this book by S.B. Srivastava
describe that entrepreneurs are people who have the ability to see and evaluate
business opportunities, to gather the necessary resources, to take advantage of
them and to initiate appropriate action to ensure success. The following list of
characteristics and traits provides a working profile of entrepreneurs:
Characteristics Traits
Self confidence Confidence, independence, individuality,
optimism.
Task result-oriented Need for achievement, profit oriented,
perseverance, determination, hard work, drive,
energy, initiative
Leadership Leadership, behaviour, gets along with others,
responsive to suggestions & criticism
Originality Innovative, creative, flexible, resourceful,
versatile, knowledgeable
Future oriented Foresight, perceptive
A person may not have all these qualities, but the more one has, greater is the
chance of being an entrepreneur.
35
S.K. Bhattacharya and M.M.P. Akhouri (1975) in their article Profile of
a Small Industry Entrepreneur in this book by S.B. Srivastava, declare the
following aspects as important components of entrepreneurial profile:
1. Entrepreneurs have high need for achievement
2. They take calculated and moderate risks
3. They have high personal efficacy
4. They possess leadership qualities
5. They show high commitment to task
6. They are good at team work
7. They have good planning ability
8. They have sound decision making ability
Understanding entrepreneurial traits and qualities enable identification
and selection of entrepreneurs and developing suitable programmes for
upgrading their knowledge and skills and developing the right motivation in
them to take up enterprises of their own and manage them well.
David C. McClelland, (1961) in The Achieving Society, in the book by
S.B. Srivastava, has pointed out that successful entrepreneurs are characterized
by a) an unusual creativeness b) a propensity of risk-taking c) a strong need for
achievement. An entrepreneur possesses the following attributes:
1. Likes to take personal responsibility
2. Likes to take moderate risks
3. Wants to know the result of his efforts
4. Tends to persist in the face of adversity
36
5. Tends to be innovative
6. Is oriented towards future
7. Tends to be mobile and is not completely satisfied
T. Venkateswara Rao, Udai Pareek and Prayag Mehta (1978) declare in
their compiled handbook Developing Entrepreneurship, Learning Systems that
every entrepreneur may not have all the characteristics as generally believed to
have. In fact, there is no research to indicate this. However, it may be that the
more these characteristics are present in a person, the more effective he is
likely to be an entrepreneur.
Generally, every entrepreneur is assumed to possess the good qualities
as enumerated below:
a) Need for achievement b) Need for influencing others c) Sense of efficacy d)
Risk taking e) Openness to feedback and learning from experience f) Need for
independence g) Hope to success h) Expectation from employees i)
Competition and collaboration j) Flexible authority relationship m) Concern
for society n) Social consciousness o) Dignity of labour and p) Saving for
future.
The authors raise a pertinent question whether entrepreneurship is a
package of characteristics. The portrayal of entrepreneurial characteristics so
far is likely to give an impression that he represents a special type of person
and that everyone cannot be a entrepreneur. This is not true, though. The
characteristics listed so far are based on several studies and experience and
most of them are not conclusive.
Nonetheless, an entrepreneur would certainly be different from the non-
entrepreneur in terms of his psychological and social dispositions. But he need
not have all these characteristics together. There is no evidence to indicate that
an entrepreneur cannot be successful without some of these characteristics.
37
Entrepreneur with strengths in creative abilities may emerge successful without
possessing many of these characteristics. Answers to questions like what are
the optimal combinations of characteristics needed to an entrepreneur are not
clearly available. The evidence only points to some dominant traits in
successful entrepreneurs. In such situations, certain generalisations could,
however, be made. a) The traits described earlier can be developed in people
through psychological education c) Presence of these traits increase probability
of an entrepreneur emerging out successful.
P. Saravanavel (1991) in his book Entrepreneurship Development:
Principles, Policies and Programmes, depicts the right qualities of a true
entrepreneur. An entrepreneur should be one who bears, innovates or initiates
and organizes the business. As successfully he performs such functions to the
extent he justifies his existence. Whether he performs such functions
effectively is determined by the nature of quality control, cost reduction,
improved industrial relations, profit earning and the like. All these are possible
if the entrepreneur is especially a talented person and he possesses the
following qualities in him:
1. Capacity to assume risk and possessing self confidence
2. Technological knowledge, alertness to new opportunities, willingness to
accept change and ability to initiate.
3. Ability to marshal resources
4. Ability to organize and administer
A study of European entrepreneurs in the 19th century at the time of
Industrial Revolution reveals that a typical entrepreneur was found more self-
centered than others. He believed in breaking up the old traditions and
establishing new traditions. Such an entrepreneur was found highly ambitious.
38
He had the will to conquer, the impulse to fight and succeed and a tendency to
prove himself superior to others.
A true entrepreneur, besides possessing functional qualities mentioned
above, must possess the broad personality contours which help him in
developing initiative and drive to accomplish such tasks which he decides from
time to time. In an early period, an economist like J.B. Say observed that an
entrepreneur must possess the following special qualities: He must have
“judgement, perseverance and the knowledge of the world as well as of
business. He is called upon to estimate, with tolerable accuracy, the importance
of specific product, the probable amount of demand, and the means of its
production; at another buy or order the raw material, collect labourers, find
consumer, and give at all times a rigid attention to order and economy, in a
word, he must possess the art of superintendence and administration.
Joseph Prokopenko and Igor Pavlin (1992) draw a rather not so rosy
picture about the entrepreneurship development activities in public enterprises.
In view of the limited entrepreneurial practices and opportunities inside the
public sector, in particular in socialist economies in the past, a systematic effort
should be made to develop endogenous entrepreneurship. Many researchers of
western business, among them for example, Peter Drucker, point out that
entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs can be developed through conscious action.
According to this view, the development of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship
can be stimulated by a set of supporting institutions, by deliberate innovative
action stimulating change, and above all charging the management of existing
corporations with the responsibility of new products and spin-off firms by
giving full support to capable individuals and entrepreneur groups. While the
role of the individual with innovative ideas and sufficient drive is still
emphasized, the purposeful and systematic management of this process is also
of key importance. As a result, different methods for the development of
entrepreneurship have been tried, ranging from entrepreneurial training courses
39
at different educational levels and management/employee buy-outs, to new
business incubators.
B.S. Rathore and S.K. Dhameja (2000) outline the challenges the future
entrepreneurs have to face in this century through their book Entrepreneurship
in the 21st Century. The future entrepreneurs will have to face considerable
challenges and severe competition not only from domestic industries, but also
from enterprises of global nature. With liberalization, the Indian entrepreneur
is facing competition from the global players even in such areas like consumer
products which recently had some protection.
The future entrepreneurs have to be prepared through training and
exposure for planning and launching an enterprise. Another task which is
important in serving the entrepreneur of the 21st century is the creation of
suitable data banks in technology and services available, arranging of technical
tie-ups between competent open minded entrepreneurs existing within the
country and with entrepreneurs/investors in other selected developed and
developing countries.
Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (unpublished data) in its
preparatory notes on Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management,
describes successful entrepreneur as one who is always aware of the new
developments and change that take place around him in the society and is
prepared to adapt to the changing need of the society. He is the pivot around
whom all other factors of production, productive resources and techniques
should revolve. He combines talents, abilities and drive to transform the
resources into profitable undertakings.
Studies on entrepreneurship have shown that personality and
cultural/social factors are related to entrepreneurial behaviour. Cross cultural
studies covering India, Japan, Guinea, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines and
Indonesia indicate that traits such as self-confidence, creativity, persistence,
40
calculated risk taking ability, determination, need for achievement, initiative
taking, flexibility, individuality, leadership, versatility, optimism and liking for
challenge, characterize the entrepreneur person.
The knowledge of entrepreneurial competence has been sharpened over
the last three decades. The following is a list of major competencies that
contribute top performance: Taking initiative, seeing and acting on
opportunities, persistence, information seeking, concern for high quality of life,
commitment to work contract, efficiency orientation, systematic planning,
problem solving, self-confidence, assertiveness, persuasion, use of influence
strategies, monitoring and concern for employee welfare.
S.V.S. Sharma (1979) in his book Developing Entrepreneurship: Issues
and Problems, narrates a detailed description on the characteristics of
successful entrepreneurs and draws comparison with the unsuccessful
entrepreneurs among other issues. Research on entrepreneurship indicates a
gradual convergence of interest in the factors that contribute to successful
entrepreneurship and has attempted to answer the following questions.
1. What are the individual or psychological characteristics of an entrepreneur?
2. Is there any typical social background which characterizes an entrepreneur?
3. Are most of the successful entrepreneurs drawn from particular
occupational groups?
Attempts have been made by social scientists to find answers to the
above questions. The vast amount of research which has been generated as a
result of tremendous interest in the field of entrepreneurship and
entrepreneurial behaviour is generally related to sociological and socio-
psychological aspects of entrepreneurship.
41
A study of personality factors of successful and unsuccessful
entrepreneurs (Alladin, M.T., 1979) at the SIET Institute covering 16
dimensions of personality revealed that successful entrepreneurs were found to
be significantly more social, emotionally stable and more assertive than
unsuccessful ones. The findings were also suggestive of a trend indicating that
successful entrepreneurs were less suspicious but more apprehensive than
unsuccessful ones. However, on dimensions like intelligence, expedient vs.
conscientiousness, sly vs. venturesome, tough-minded vs. tender-minded,
practical vs. imaginative, far-sighted vs. shrewd, conservative vs.
experimenting, group dependent vs. self-sufficient and relaxed vs. tense, the
differences between successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs were found to
be negligible.
On the final analysis, the role of the characteristics associated with the
success of entrepreneurship – personal, social and psychological, individually
or in combination, stands out significantly. And it appears possible and perhaps
necessary to develop ways and means of identifying potential entrepreneurs
who could be encouraged and supported on a selective basis. It is not suggested
that one could arrive at a universally applicable and invariant portrait of an
entrepreneur. But what is advocated is the view that in every society some
people possess entrepreneurial qualities to a greater degree than others. And
these people have to be involved to take advantage of developmental activity.
While entrepreneurial behaviour can be readily identified as a common pattern,
the underlying roots of such behaviour seem to vary from culture to culture. A
more conclusive picture will emerge only out of well planned research efforts
in different countries, individually and in coordination.
Meredith Geoffrey G, Nelson Robert E, and Neck Philip A (1982) in
their book The Practice of Entrepreneurship describe the features of
entrepreneurs. They are action oriented, highly motivated individuals who take
risks to achieve goals. Most entrepreneurs have definite goals and expectations.
42
The clearer the goals are, the more likely they are to achieve them. Every
person is a unique individual and no two persons are alike. All people have had
different past experiences, are living in different life situations, have different
commitments and responsibilities, and have different life goals. The previous
experiences of an entrepreneur are usually broad and varied and determine his
present life situation. Most entrepreneurs have modeled themselves on another;
probably older entrepreneur and close identification with such a “role model”
will lead to the acquisition of entrepreneurial behaviour and skills.
The current job and the financial and family circumstance, as well as
other factors, help to determine the attitude towards being entrepreneurial. He
has various obligations and commitments to himself and to others, including
his family, employer and employees, friends and other community members. If
he has too many commitments and responsibilities outside his work, he will
find it difficult to be entrepreneurial. In planning for the future he has to be
realistic in determining those things that can be changed and those that cannot.
His past experiences should help him to understand better his present situation.
To some extent, success as an entrepreneur depends on their willingness
to accept responsibility for their own work. Even though the risk of failure is
always present, entrepreneurs take risk by assuming responsibility for their
actions. Some entrepreneurs succeed only after experiencing many failures.
Entrepreneurs have a sound mental outlook on life. They are matured
individuals who have developed a way of viewing all experiences in a healthy
manner. Entrepreneurs are people who know how to find satisfaction in work
and are proud of their accomplishments.
Successful entrepreneurs are successful leaders, whether they lead a few
employees or a few thousands. By the very nature of their work, entrepreneurs
are leaders because they must seek opportunities, initiate projects; gather the
43
physical, financial and human resources needed to carry out projects; set goals
for themselves and others; and direct and guide others to accomplish goals.
Kalpana Vaish (1993) in her book Entrepreneurial Role of Development
Banks in Backward Areas quotes Prof. Schumpeter on his views on
entrepreneurs. According to him, supply of entrepreneurs depends on the rate
of profit and social contract. Profit induces the prospective entrepreneur to get
into the business and start new activities. But this does not necessarily imply
that the entrepreneur is concerned only with pecuniary profits. He is basically
an innovator, with an achievement motive which aspires for something more
than money. It is for such entrepreneurs to function effectively that the
necessary entrepreneurial culture and a social climate conducive to
industrialization are needed.
Development of entrepreneurship involves identification of potential
entrepreneurs, training them and developing in them the characteristics or
abilities required for entrepreneurial success and providing support to the
trained entrepreneurs in all subsequent stages of actual enterprise building.
S.B. Verma (2005) in Entrepreneurship and Employment: Strategies for
Human Resource Management, highlights the role of entrepreneurship on
economic development. Entrepreneurship as an economic activity emerges and
functions in sociological and cultural setting. It could be conceived of as an
individual free choice activity or a social group’s occupation or profession. In
Indian context, entrepreneurs hail either from communities which are
traditionally endowed with entrepreneurial qualities or those from traditionally
non-entrepreneurial group. Further, entrepreneurship may result in basic,
partial or total transformation in the client community.
The entrepreneur in this context is defined as one who could start a new
activity or a new enterprise which is a deviation from his traditional family
occupation or profession. Entrepreneurship can also be thought of as a creative
44
activity. The entrepreneur is an innovator who introduces something new into
the economy – a method of production not yet tested, a product with which
consumers are not familiar, a new source of raw material, or a new market
hitherto unexplored and other similar innovations.
Dr. B.S. Patil (2009) in his book on Social Entrepreneurship draws in
detail the role and responsibilities of social entrepreneurs. Any definition of
social entrepreneurship should reflect the need for a substitute for the market
discipline that works for business entrepreneurs. The definition combines an
emphasis on discipline and accountability with the notions of value creation
taken by Say, innovation and change agent from Schumpeter, pursuit of
opportunity from Drucker, and resourcefulness from Stevenson. In brief, this
definition can be stated as follows:
Social entrepreneur plays the role of change agents in the social sector by:
1. Applying a mission to create and sustain social value
2. Recognizing and relentlessly pursuing new opportunities to serve that
mission
3. Engaging in a process of continuous innovation, adaptation and learning
4. Acting boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand
5. Exhibiting heightened accountability to the constituencies served and for
the outcomes created
Social entrepreneurship describes a set of behaviours that are
exceptional. These behaviours should be encouraged and rewarded in those
who have the capabilities and temperament for this kind of work. Social
entrepreneurs are one special breed of leaders and they should be recognized as
such. We need them to help us find new avenues towards social improvement.
45
Dilip Gangopadhyay (2001) in his book Enterprise and Entrepreneurs
draws our attention on the intense relationship between them, and highlights
the importance of entrepreneurship for the economic growth of a country.
Entrepreneurship is a variable, depending on the country’s resolution for
economic growth and its scope is limited by the agenda under the national
policy. In regard to our country, it is encouraged towards:
a) Social justice b) Removal of imbalance amongst the regions and
dispersal of entrepreneurial activities in backward rural areas c) Equitable
distribution of income by way of creating jobs for the unemployed d)
Substantial addition to the GNP and off late e) Techno-economic reliance
through economic liberalization and industrial globalization by way of turning
mixed economy into market economy.
Once the role and functions of an entrepreneur are understood properly,
the qualities which must be present or need to be developed to undergo the
entrepreneurial process with success should be determined. Such qualities
termed as characteristics are:
Capacity to take risk, capacity to work hard, capacity to search, capacity
to exalt competence, capacity for creative thinking, capacity to influence and
persuasion, quality consciousness and desire for deferred consumption.
Mario Rutten and Carol Upadhya (1997) in their book Small Business
Entrepreneurs in Asia and Europe, Towards a Comparative Perspective,
highlight the general features of entrepreneurs engaged in Asia and Europe.
The authors quote Harvey (1989) and others who have argued that the growth
of small scale and rural based entrepreneurial classes throughout Asia and
Europe may be related to the profound transformation which has taken place in
the capitalist world system during the last two decades. Many of the small
enterprises, both manufacturing and service-oriented, are linked to larger
companies through sub-contracting relations.
46
Most studies on entrepreneurs have found social networks to be central
to their functioning and this is true of European as of Asian businessmen. If
social networks are viewed in a broader sense as a kind of ‘social capital’, then
their ubiquity among business entrepreneurs can be better understood. The
creation of social capital is essential not only for successful business dealings
and the enhancement of prestige, but also for insurance against an uncertain
future.
Naunihal Singh (2003) has written his book Effective Entrepreneurial
Management from a definite and pragmatic point of view that stated, is this:
Neither innovative genius, nor hard work, nor even luck is in itself a guarantee
for corporate success. Assuming that all these are present in the new venture in
at least trace quantities, the missing catalytic element often seems to be what
we might call the ‘entrepreneurial state of mind’. It might be characterized as a
degree of tough-mindedness that stops somewhere short of combativeness, a
confidence in one’s intuitive as well as one’s rational faculties, a capacity to
think tactically on one’s feet, as well as to plan strategically in the business
school sense; an aptitude that senses timely action based on sometimes
inadequate information, ahead of prolonged fact-finding; a mental set stressing
integration of many facts into action plans, rather than endless differentiation
and analysis.
A Hand Book for New Entrepreneurs (1986) (unpublished data)
prepared by EDI-I faculty and experts give their version of entrepreneurship. It
is not a matter of heritage; it is entirely a manifestation of such potentialities
that any individual born in any caste, community and class can have. As such,
any person having a certain set of behavioural traits and mental aptitudes in
him/her can become an entrepreneur. Besides, there is no need for such person
to be groomed from the very childhood for becoming an entrepreneur. Even if
he/she is grown up, has worked on a different line, and has developed these
47
traits or aptitudes, he/she can be groomed and developed as an entrepreneur
through counseling and motivational measures.
In order to know at first hand the factors which have led to the
promotion of entrepreneurship in small scale industry sector, a study was
conducted by B.S. Batra (2002). This led to an in-depth analysis of the socio-
economic profile of entrepreneurs and the various factors of promotion,
success or failure of entrepreneurs.
There are a number of factors which motivate a person to enter into
industry. There are internal as well as external factors. Among the external
factors, incentives to set up the new units prompted many to enter into
entrepreneurial activity. Heavy demand for the product, high profit margin and
other external factors motivated them to start the business units in the states.
Among the internal factors, strong urge to do some independent job accounted
for a major chunk. The analysis of personality factors indicated that
competencies of entrepreneurs and risk taking ability have been a major
motivating factor.
Many factors generally affect the growth of entrepreneurs. These
include previous occupation, family background, caste, education, technical
know-how, financial position, government help, and personality of
entrepreneurs. These factors affect the process of industrial growth. Thus, in
order to promote industrial growth and development, it becomes necessary to
create a conducive climate which helps in promoting entrepreneurship.
The entrepreneurial spirit, as described by various studies and
experiences on the subject involves not only desire to gain monetary benefits,
but also an admixture of an utmost need for achievement and all the
motivations evident in a high achiever. Long term involvement with a goal
which the entrepreneur has set for himself creates the need to persist with the
undertaking even in the face of number of barriers.
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The advanced countries have made spectacular performance on the basis
of industrial entrepreneurship. The Asian region presents a similar
underdevelopment. In India, most of the industrialized states have shown a
high rate of industrial growth during the last many decades. There is
predominance of small scale units which have shown a tendency of growth.
The states have plenty of small scale enterprises, but there are a few persons
who have entered medium and large scale sectors. However, the entrepreneurs
have matched their counterparts in developed regions in risk bearing capacity
and their entrepreneurial skills. It is true to a large extent that whatever the
various states have been able to achieve is mainly due to the efforts of the
entrepreneurs.
The entrepreneurs in low capital base depended mostly on family funds
while those in medium capital base tried to tap some nearby sources like
friends and relatives. However, more than half of the persons in high capital
base got resources from governments as well as various financial institutions.
The business families supply more entrepreneurs than any other type. The
persons from business families are directly or indirectly exposed to family
businesses which make them familiar with business practices. The families
with business occupation provided large number of entrepreneurs.
Neal Thornberry (2006) describes the entrepreneurial philosophy in his
book Lead like an Entrepreneur. The entrepreneurial half of the entrepreneurial
leadership requires the wearing of an entrepreneurial hat on a day-to-day basis.
Some people refer to this focus as a “mindset” or ‘philosophy” or perhaps a
lens through which a leader tends to consistently view his corporate world. It is
more fruitful to view this as a mindset than as an inherent or inborn
characteristic, since people can learn to wear this hat.
Simply defined, this mindset is a way of thinking and acting that is
entrepreneurial in nature and manifests itself in number of outwardly
49
observable behaviour. Unlike a trait, mindset can be learnt by most people if
they have a desire to do so. What separates most organizational managers from
entrepreneurial leaders is desire. Some people have this desire naturally, but
we have seen others, employed in large corporations, get it through a
combination of education, personal development, and well designed
compensation and motivational strategies.
The entrepreneurial mindset involved the following 10 qualities:
Internal locus of control, Tolerance for ambiguity, Willingness to hire
people smaller than oneself, A consistent drive to create, Build or change
things, Passion for an opportunity, A sense of urgency, Perseverance,
Resilience, Optimism and Sense of humour about oneself.
Entrepreneurship is about opportunity identification, development and
capture. This is the be-all and end-all. This is what entrepreneurs do and why
they are called so. What separates most of us from successful entrepreneurs is
that they are willing to spend the time and energy to go through this process.
The process is not magic; it can be learnt. A clear discipline is involved in
turning an idea into an opportunity. Companies which wish to rekindle their
entrepreneurial spirit need to create an environment in which managers become
impassioned about an idea to the point that they are willing to pursue it even if
there are obstacles.
G.R. Basotia and K.K. Sharma (1999) explain the role of entrepreneurs
in developing enterprises in their handbook on entrepreneurship development.
An entrepreneur has to coordinate and control various factors of production for
achieving a given objective. All factors are equally important for making the
enterprise a success. Various departments should work in coordination with
one another and organizational and financial planning should be properly
determined. Modern business has become complex and complicated. The
improvement in technology and changing consumer preferences are creating
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more challenges for the entrepreneurs. All aspects of an enterprise –
production, financing, marketing etc., should be properly arranged and
coordinated to make an enterprise successful. Some pre-requisites for the
success of an enterprise are: Setting objectives, Proper planning, Sound
organization, Proper location and lay out of plant, Marketing and distribution
and Dynamic leadership.
J. Gayathri (2009) quotes Tata, Birla, Modi, Dalmia, Kirloskar and
others as examples of successful entrepreneurs, who started their business
enterprises with small size and good fortunes. Success or otherwise of a small
enterprise, is to a great extent, attributed to the success or otherwise of the
entrepreneur himself. What makes them successful? Whether they have
anything in common in their personal characteristics? The scanning of their
personal characteristics shows that there are certain qualities of entrepreneurs
which are found usually prominent in them. The principle characteristics
identified are: hard work, desire for high achievement, highly optimistic,
independence, foresight, good organizing and innovative mind.
Chris Boulton and Patrick Turner (2006) in their book Mastering
Business in Asia, concentrate on the essential qualities required for a person to
succeed in entrepreneurial venture in Asian region. The fact that there are wide
variations between entrepreneurial activities in different countries, even taking
into account the distinction between necessity-based and opportunity-driven
entrepreneurs opens up the whole subject area of what factors influence people
to become entrepreneurs and stimulate entrepreneurial activity.
You are more likely to become an entrepreneur if someone in your
environment is or has become one. Your environment includes more than just
your family, and so it can also be said that if there is a strong entrepreneurial
community where you were brought up or even a cluster of towns in your area,
then this can also encourage you to think of becoming an entrepreneur.
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Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report found that post
secondary or graduate education are twice likely to be involved in an
entrepreneurial firm than those with less education. GEM report found that
another of three statistically significant contributing factors to high levels of
entrepreneurial activity was a belief on the part of the individual that he
possessed the skills necessary to start and manage a business. People who
believed this were on average five times more likely to be engaged in
entrepreneurship.
This finding can be taken together with the third of the three significant
favourable factors, which was perception of business opportunities, those who
could see good opportunities were three times more likely to be an
entrepreneur than the rest. Another major factor influencing the level of
entrepreneurial activity was how easy or difficult it was to become an
entrepreneur – in other words, the level of official and administrative burden
that an entrepreneur has to cope with. Also other factors to be reckoned with
were costs an entrepreneur had to face, both at the start up and during the
operation of the business and the availability of funding for entrepreneurial
activities.
Neeta Baporikar (2002) establishes the role of entrepreneurs in the
economic and industrial development of countries through her book
Entrepreneurship and Small Industry. Entrepreneur is not an inventor. The
large number of innovations would have all gone waste had they not been
made commercially viable by the entrepreneurs. That is why entrepreneurs are
given the credit for the success of the Industrial Revolution. What qualities or
traits are required to be a successful entrepreneur? While t is difficult to answer
this question definitely, it appears that a successful entrepreneur has the
following qualities: Willingness to take sacrifices, leadership, decisiveness,
confidence in the project, marketing orientation, and strong ego.
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Sathish Khanna (2004) in his book The Rising Indiapreneur: Instilling
Entrepreneurial Skills discovers the unique characteristics demanded for an
entrepreneur to succeed in Indian business environment. Entrepreneurs are the
crux of the economy of any country. In order to succeed in the era post-WTO,
a new culture is required in India to fill this lacuna. It is not that we lack the
required resources or skills for faring better than what we already are. On the
contrary, its people are more than well qualified.
Even the definition of an entrepreneur has to undergo change. Earlier,
any one who started a business with his own money or loan money-
irrespective of the merits of the project was nomenclatured as an entrepreneur.
Many times, he was just launching the project because there were fiscal
subsidies being offered by the government or the project had duty protections
or that easy loan money was available. For some, it was an opportunity to
siphon off money. Some started a particular business because others were
making profits in that business – the so-called entrepreneur could hire some
employees and literally steal the technology and customer base to copy the
project. In the process, he neither made the intended profit for himself nor did
he allow the original player to continue making profits, based on his being the
actual entrepreneur.
This was an era of “Destructive Construction”. Most investments made
in those days are stagnating or losing the value. Some good investments have
gone towards the destructive mode too through value erosion.
It is time to deliberately destroy businesses which have taken in huge
national resources, bred inefficiently and are no more capable of withstanding
global competition. Such destruction will be a “Constructive Destruction” and
hereafter new businesses based on global competitive merits will have to be
constructed. These should find opportunities within India and abroad. This will
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be “Constructive Construction” and those who contribute this mode of creation
will be the entrepreneurs who will be able to restore respect for themselves.
Dr. Vasanth Desai (2008) in his book Small Scale Industries and
Entrepreneurship, comments that the characteristics of an entrepreneur that
contribute to success are the result of his achievement motivation. A successful
entrepreneur is a person who has started the business where there was none
before. He is essentially an enterprising individual who is able to recognize the
potential profitable opportunity and who initiates to produce marketable
products by combining the various technologies and through organizing
together the people, finance, material resources marketing tools, in order to
ultimately translate the idea in the minds to physical realities. In short,
entrepreneur is a person who initiates, establishes, maintains and expands a
new enterprise. He is basically an innovator, creator and accomplisher.
According to research studies, there are more than fifty personality traits
and all these traits, attributes and attitudes constitute the characteristics of a
successful entrepreneur. Though all the characteristics cannot be found in a
single entrepreneur yet the presence of greater number of these characteristics
in an individual makes him an entrepreneur and only then it is possible for him
to be successful to achieve the goals of entrepreneurship. Some of the
characteristics or qualities of a successful entrepreneur are as follows: Need for
achievement, Risk taking, Need for independence, Sense of effectiveness,
Social consciousness, Need for extension, Optimistic, Open minded, Non-
fatalist, Low affiliation, Pragmatist, Aggressive, Commitment and conviction,
Capacity to analyze, Initiative, Hopeful, Efficiency, Technical competence,
Good judgement, Intelligence, Leadership qualities, Self-confidence, Energy,
Creativeness, Fairness, Honesty, tactfulness and Emotional stability.
An entrepreneur who has a high level of administrative ability, mental
ability, human relations ability, communication ability and technical
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knowledge stands a much better chance of success than his counterpart who
possesses low levels of these basic qualities. Brilliant men with first class
degrees from universities hesitate becoming entrepreneurs because one thing
they cannot be taught is coping with human emotions.
V.S. Patvardhan (1990) in his research study on Growth of Indigenous
Entrepreneurship conducted a detailed study on B.D. Gareware, and his
entrepreneurial growth as apart of a study of prominent families from
Maharashtra who have been involved in business and industrial activity. The
author throws light on the personality of B.D. Gareware (BDG), his
motivation, the environment in which he grew up, his uncanny business sense
to exploit the opportunities at the right time, the manner in which he reacted to
the changing economic and social environment, the factors responsible for his
decision making in the process of expanding of his business, entrepreneurial
aspects of his philosophy pertaining to management, personal relations,
product choice, and developing expansion and diversification.
BDG is known to be extremely careful and choosy while selecting his
executives, train and mould them, test them, and then repose full trust in them
once they come out successful according to his expectations. Creating
leadership quality within his executives and cultivate a sense of confidence
among them has been one of his fondest activities in the running of his
different companies. Though a non-technician, he likes to learn by himself and
remains a shade better than his best technical personnel. He has experimented
successfully by creating a mix of hereditary and professional management in
two of his companies. He is able to generate a sense of belonging and identity
within the organization among the employees with whom he used to work. He
spares no efforts and pains to nurture quality consciousness as a way of life.
BDG always believes in the kind of process of growth of the personnel
providing them avenues for promotion and encouraged active labour
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participation in ownership and management of his companies. He would
encourage his executives to take up responsibilities and gave credit for their
achievements. He would endeavour to know the problems of his employees,
show understanding and strive to create an atmosphere in which they would be
satisfied and happy.
The overall thinking or philosophy as regards management of his
companies has been based on futuristic approach laced with practical
conservatism. Management by ‘hunches’ is perhaps a unique feature of his
business decisions. He continuously looks around for something new by way
of products and market. He is perceptive of the market and of the emerging
competition and not sentimental in being attached to particular products. Single
minded devotion to the objective set before oneself and perseverance also can
be counted as important contributory characteristic of BDG. He is imbued with
the true entrepreneurial spirit to take up challenges and pursued them with a
practical approach. He is a man of vision and persistent and willing to put up in
any amount of hard work.
Through the detailed and painstaking study of the personality traits,
qualities and practices of B.D. Gareware, the author has illustrated the living
example of a successful entrepreneur and the important attributes required for
success.
R. Setty (2004) draws our attention towards the potential and challenges
for women to become entrepreneurs. Woman has been the economic partner of
man in several fields but when it comes to entrepreneurship, man seems,
outwardly, at any rate, to dominate the entrepreneurial world. Entrepreneurship
is not simply a masculine job as army or navy. She, too, is equally endowed
with the psychological qualities and managerial abilities that matter in
successful entrepreneurship. Sometimes, the environment and opportunities are
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the same for both man and woman. But interestingly, the entrepreneurial
activity in the traditional developing societies has been restricted to man.
In general, the potential woman entrepreneur may be a teacher, a nurse,
a secretary or any woman stuck in a job that does not fulfill her or which does
not bring sufficient income. The entrepreneurial woman is simply the woman
who wants to start her own business. The promotion of entrepreneurship
among women depends very much on the organization, education, simulation,
and motivation of the clientele through concerted and systematic approach,
focusing on the individuals and groups. This objective can be achieved
gradually through working with people and demonstrating with possibilities of
women venturing into entrepreneurial activities, accompanied with adequate
rewards – development and social growth.
Pankaj Kumar and P.N. Sharma (2009) in their article Development of
Women Entrepreneurs in India: With special reference to Bihar, draws the
picture of women aspiring to become entrepreneurs. The emergence of
entrepreneurship in a society depends upon to a great extent on the economic,
social, religious, cultural and psychological factors prevailing in the society.
Emergence of women entrepreneurship has been an important development in
advanced countries and even in developing countries in recent years.
Today we find women in different types of industries, traditional as well
as non-traditional. What motivates women to aspire for career in business is an
interesting thing to explore and analyse. According to McClelland and Winter,
motivation is a critical factor that leads towards entrepreneurship. This apart,
the challenge and adventure to do something new, liking for business, and
wanting to have an independent occupation are some of the attractive leverages
for women. These factors indicate a relatively deeper commitment to
entrepreneurial profession on the part of the entrepreneur. Responsibility thrust
due to death or incapacitation of near ones, tax benefit for self and for relations
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are the push factors. In addition, special qualifications achieved for running
concern, identifying the demand for the market, external motivation,
employment to needy and destitute to set up an ancillary unit, business already
in the family, are some of the factors which give stimulus to women
entrepreneurs to start business.
S.K. Dhameja (2002) narrates the opportunities, performance, and
problems experienced by women entrepreneurs with reference to our country.
In India, from the very beginning, women have been managers of the kitchen
and have solely dominated the area of household activities. Today, non-
traditional enterprises are easily managed by women and are done efficiently
with them as the decision makers. They are flourishing well as consultants,
publishers, exporters, manufactures, designers, interior decorators and the like.
The hidden entrepreneurial potential of women has gradually been
changing with the growing sensitivity to the role and economic status in
society. Women are increasingly being conscious of their existence, their rights
and their work situations. Today, women entrepreneurs represent a group of
women who have broken away from the beaten path and are exploring new
avenues of economic participation. Among the reasons for women to run
organized enterprises are their skill and knowledge, their talents and abilities in
business and a compelling desire to do something positive.
Women entrepreneurs are regarded as persons who accept a challenging
role to quench their personality needs and to become economically
independent by making suitable adjustments in both family and social life.
They are constantly on the look out for new and innovative ways which lead to
strong economic participation. Their adeptness, skill and knowledge, their
acumen in business and a pushing desire to do something positive are among
the reasons for women to establish and manage organized industries and take
up challenging ventures.
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Mark Casson (1982) says that the entrepreneur needs to be a generalist
rather than a specialist. In other words, it is important for entrepreneur to be
reasonably proficient in all aspects of decision making, rather than very
proficient in some aspects but inadequate in others. Entrepreneur who is
deficient in some qualities in principle hire delegates who have these qualities.
The entrepreneur and the delegate complement each other and can take
decisions successfully as a unit. In order to hire complementary qualities the
entrepreneur needs some additional qualities of his own, namely, delegation
skills and organization skills.
The difficulty of screening and devising incentives is far greater for
some qualities than others. Among these scarce qualities, the most difficult to
screen for are imagination and foresight. It follows that these qualities are
essential to the successful entrepreneur. Beside these qualities, however, the
entrepreneur also needs either to be himself a generalist, so that he can
discharge his function without delegation or possess delegation and
organizational skills.
All entrepreneurial qualities are to extent innate. However, not all of
them are entirely innate. Some can be enhanced by training or simply be
experienced. For example, analytical ability and computational skill can be
enhanced at school and university, while practical knowledge and search skills
can be enhanced by general experience of every day life. Entrepreneurial
careers will be strongly influenced by the desire to enhance qualities which are
scarce, yet difficult to obtain through delegation because of the problem
involved in screening for them. Of the two indispensable qualities mentioned
above, imagination is almost entirely innate, while foresight, though some
extent innate, can be enhanced by a varied experience. Delegation skill and
organization skill though not essential are highly desirable whenever large
scale decision making is contemplated. These too are qualities which can be
enhanced through experience.
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Dr. Nagendra P Singh (1985) says there have been several studies which
highlight that the entrepreneur is a person who bears, innovates or initiates and
organizes the business. His existence can be justified with effective
performance of various functions related to his role. Entrepreneurial skills can
be acquired and inculcated among the entrepreneurs, provided he possesses
certain qualities identifiable through his overt behavioural manifestation.
Significant identifiable traits of entrepreneurs are:
High empirical value Observed and experienced traits
Need for achievement Dignity of labour
Need for influencing others Strong will power
High sense of efficiency High self esteem
Change proneness Tactful competition
Degree of self perceived readiness Exploitative and opportunistic
Overall modernity Creative
Business and financial background Imaginative
A review of entrepreneurial characteristics has indicated 57 traits of the
entrepreneur on the basis of several researches and past experiences. It
suggests that presence of any or most of the characteristics should define the
entrepreneur.
Ratna Ghosh, Meenakshi Gupta and S. Dian Dhar (1998) in their article,
Women and Entrepreneurship in India, describe the research project
undertaken by The Centre for Management Development in Trivandrum titled
Management Skills for Rural Enterprises: A Field Investigation. The project
involved motivating, training and assisting men and women towards
developing independent business ventures. This study focused on the
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experiences of women who started micro-enterprises. Based on the quantitative
analysis of the data obtained from questions administered to 73 women who
invested in small scale industries, an attempt was made to develop a profile of
women entrepreneurs and draw out some implications for study.
Profile of woman entrepreneur - It is evident that she is not one of
highly qualified persons but is in whom knowledge combined with experience
and circumstances have helped her to succeed in her endeavour. Age and
marital status have important roles to play in success. The typical woman
entrepreneur is married with less than 3 children and over 32 years of age. She
could be from either a nuclear or joint family. In any case, she should have
both the advantages and disadvantages in terms of personal independence and
household support. Her initial investment range is quite high when compared
to her economic background. She is able to obtain sufficient funds from the
Government to set up a small lucrative business which would give her
economic independence and higher social status because of increase in family
income.
Characteristically from a lower – middle class family, the woman
entrepreneur has a father or husband who is at least a matriculate and works in
the service sector. Yet she has succeeded in establishing herself as an
individual proprietor and has been encouraged to do so by her family members.
Employing mostly females, she has male support for handling the outside
transactions.
Among the several reasons for becoming an entrepreneur, need for
economic independence and self- fulfillment is quiet strong. Although she
herself is keen on her project and how she will implement it, she clearly needs
male support both at home in terms of a conducive home environment as well
as her entrepreneurial work. Societal and cultural values impinge upon her
outside her home, making her difficult to operate in male spheres of activity.
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She is obliged to make her work and home environments fit to run smoothly
and pleasantly.
Jasmer Singh Saini (2005) in his book Entrepreneurship Development:
Programmes and Practices, quotes Kilby (1971) who says entrepreneur
perform four tasks: a) Exchange relationship b) Practical administration c)
Management control d) Technology. All these fields of activities involve
entrepreneur in decision making under conditions of uncertainty. Thus the
entrepreneur under Kilby’s proposed framework would involve a) A
determination of the types and degrees of uncertainty confronting the
performance of a particular operation b) The ability to make appropriate
decisions necessary for the goal achievement.
Kilby concludes, entrepreneurial performance in those roles involving
exchange relationships and practical administration is vigorous and effective.
On the other hand, entrepreneurs typically do not apply themselves with equal
intensity to their tasks in the realms of management control and technology.
Deficiencies in these latter areas represent in many instances the operational
bottlenecks to indigenous individual development.
Dr. C.B. Gupta and Dr. N.P. Srinivasan (1999) quote Jeffrey Timmons
(1985) who conducted research on entrepreneurial traits and identified
following traits: Total commitment, determination and perseverance, Drive to
achieve and grow, Opportunity and goal orientation, Taking initiative and
personal responsibility, Persistent problem solving, Realism and a sense of
humour, Seeking and using feedback, Internal locus of control, Calculated risk
taking and risk seeking, Low need for status and power, and Integrity and
reliability.
The trait approach to entrepreneurship is useful. By developing a profile
of a successful entrepreneur, it becomes possible to spot and develop
entrepreneurs. But we do not know which traits are necessary for
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entrepreneurial success. Many traits used to describe entrepreneurs also apply
to many managers. The trait approach lacks specificity and is not applicable to
all cultures. Another difficulty is that traits lists are all positive. Thus, the trait
approach is not fully satisfied.
Prof. Tandon (1975) has described the following qualities of a true
entrepreneur – capacity to assume risk, technical knowledge and willingness to
change, ability to marshall resources, and ability to organization and
administration. Historically there is a long list of entrepreneurs who are
instrumental in introducing new methods, products, new markets and new
forms of industrial organization. Such people were drawn from all strata of
society. But they had common characteristics. They were men who valued
business as a means and sign of achievement, they were people who
appreciated the possibility of innovation and they were people who tried to
overcome the resistances and obstacles in the way of doing new things. Their
motive was to increase profit and improve efficiency by reducing costs. They
were the great figures of the Industrial Revolution in England, who earned
their reputation as innovators and organizers. They fulfilled in person the
functions of the capitalist, financier, manager, merchant and salesman.
Renu Arora and Dr. S.K. Sood (2004) in their book Entrepreneurial
Development explain that an entrepreneur should possess all such
characteristics with the help of which he can perform successfully. He should
be: calculated risk taker, innovator, organizer, creative, achievement
motivated, self confident, socially responsible, optimistic, quipped with
capability to drive, blessed with mental ability, human relations ability,
communication ability, decision making, business planning, visionary, ability
to spot and exploit opportunity and courage to face adversities.
Marc J. Dollinger (2003) in his book Entrepreneurship: Strategies and
Resources, draws out in detail how the modern day entrepreneur is different
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from the older ones. If entrepreneurship is one of the hot labels today, it is
because the concept of being an entrepreneur has changed. 15 years ago, an
entrepreneur might have been described as a business version of a John Wayne
cowboy who steered his business through the rodeo of commerce without the
help of training or education and without the assistance of bankers or other
experts. Entrepreneurs were once seen as small business founders with a strong
independent streak and may be a flair for the dramatic actions. Entrepreneurs
were once born, not made.
Things are different now. What is emerging today is a class of
professional entrepreneurs who rely more upon their brains than their guts and
who have been trained to use both methods and technology to analyse the
business environment.
The author has given a comparison of traits of old and new
entrepreneurs as:
Then Now
Small business founder True entrepreneur
Boss Leader
Lone ranger Net worker
Secretive Open
Self reliant Inquisitive
Seat of the pants Business plan
Snap decisions Consensus
Male ownership Mixed
According to Bill Wetzel, Professor at University of New Hampshire,
the old type entrepreneur of business founders was thought primarily to be
about learning a living, while today’s entrepreneur has the intention of building
a significant company that can create wealth for him and the investors.
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The new entrepreneur comes from different sources too. Many of them
are corporate track drop outs, pushed out by downsizing or lured out by the
quest for status, big money, or control of their personal lives. Globalisation has
many small start-ups to compete against with big businesses.
Academia has contributed to the creation of this new professional
entrepreneur class too. Harvard Business School which once had 3 or 4
professors teaching courses about small business now has 17 full time faculties
in its entrepreneurial studies programme. Staffing at other colleges and
universities reflect the same trend. The content of many finance, marketing and
other business courses has also been adjusted to reflect new concerns about
development methods. The new class of entrepreneurs do not just do, they
understand what they are doing.
Sathish Taneja and Dr. S.L. Gupta (2001) in their book Entrepreneur
Development: New Venture Creation explain the characteristics and role
demands of entrepreneurs. The wide range in the nature of business and the
entrepreneurs who have started and run them make generalisations about their
characteristics at best, risky and at worst, something misleading. For example,
product-oriented business is significantly different from service -oriented ones.
Technical entrepreneurs have been found to have different educational
background than non-technical and service entrepreneurs. Further, the
requirement to build a large enterprise are different and more demanding than
the personal requirements needed for setting up a small scale enterprise or even
a franchise.
Entrepreneurial characteristics can be developed, such as goal setting
and certain role requirements such as knowledge of particular business can be
learnt. A person in his twenties launching his part-time/full-time venture may
start a small proprietorship or partnership concern. Early success in such
enterprises provides valuable learning. The experiences gained provide a
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platform to build a larger, more complex and demanding venture on a later
date.
For the entrepreneur as well as prospective partner and investor, the
question of the nature and extent of one’s entrepreneurial potential is
paramount. The criteria identified can be a useful guide to help identify major
shortcomings or a fatal flow that could make pursuit of an entrepreneurial
career a failure, rather than a success. It can assist in determining if there is a
reasonable chance of launching a successful venture to suit an individual’s
goals, values, and needs or not.
Investigations have identified 14 dominant characteristics of successful
entrepreneurs:
Need to achieve – desire to be a winner
Perseverance – quality to stick to it
Moderate risk taker – prefer middle of the road
Use of feedback – knowing how they perform
Facing uncertainty – tolerance for ambiguity and unfamiliar situations
Stress takers – posses drive and energy
Self confidence – faith in their abilities
Initiative seeking – responsibility
Positive self concept – aware of one self and internal locus of control
Motivators – possess interpersonal skills
Flexibility – flexible in decisions
Independence – dislikes working for others
Analytical ability – unaffected by personal likes and dislikes
Ability to find and explore opportunity
It is not enough to possess a large and intense level of these
entrepreneurial characteristics. In addition, certain conditions, pressures and
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demands are inherent in the role of entrepreneurship. These role requirements
have important implications for a person’s suitability to entrepreneurship and
for the eventual success of a new venture. While successful entrepreneurs may
share several characteristics in common with successful persons in others
careers, their preference for and tolerance of the combination of requirements,
unique to the entrepreneurial role, is a major distinguishing feature. There are
some important role requirements of an entrepreneur – accommodation to the
venture, total immersion and commitment, economic values, integrity and
reliability.
R. Kumaresan (2009) in his book, Entrepreneur versus Entrepreneurship
Development, makes a detailed listing of the qualities required by an
entrepreneur for successful management of his enterprise. Entrepreneur is a
human being who has his dignity, self respect, values, sentiments, aspirations
and dreams apart from economic status. If we analyse the business history of
India and the persons who have emerged as successful entrepreneurs namely
Tata, Birla, Kirloskar, Ambani and TVS Iyengar, we can find that there are
some common qualities of entrepreneurs – capacity to take risk, capacity to
work hard, above average intelligence and wide knowledge, self motivation,
vision and foresight, willingness to differ consumption, imagination, initiation
and emulation, inventive ability and sound judgement, flexibility and
sociability, desire to take personal responsibility, desire to seek and use
feedback, persistence in the face of adversity, innovativeness and future-
orientation, mobility and drive, creative thinking, strong need for achievement,
ability to marshall resources, high degree of ambition, will to conquer and
impulse to fight and will to prove superior to others.
Dr. Bhawna Bhatnagar and Ankur Budhiraja (2009) quote Vasant Desai
who has defined the modern entrepreneur. According to Vasant Desai, “the
entrepreneur brings in overall change through innovation for the maximum
social good. Human values remain sacred and inspire him to serve the society.
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He has firm belief in social betterment and he carries out his responsibility
with conviction. In the process, he accelerates personal, economic as well as
human development. The entrepreneur is a visionary and integrated man with
outstanding leadership qualities. With a desire to excel, the entrepreneur gives
top priority to research and development. He always works for the well being
of the society. More importantly, entrepreneurial activities encompass all
fields/sectors and foster a spirit of enterprises for the welfare of mankind.”
Based on the above definition, we can conclude that a modern
entrepreneur tries to keep himself updated by way of evaluating new situations
and analyzing his environment to explore new prospects, takes risk and then
arranges for necessary resources to start his enterprise.
P. Vijaya Banu (2006) gives the characteristics about entrepreneur as
named by various authors:
Organizer – Say
Capitalist – Adam Smith
Innovative – Schumpeter, Drucker
Change agent – Young
Risk taker – Webster, Walker, Knight
Opportunist – Drucker, Dewing
Decision maker – Danhof
Visionary – Hisrich
Leader – Hisrich
Dreamer – Luther
Problem solver – Hagen
High achiever – McClelland
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If we go through the business history of India, we come across the
names of persons who have emerged as big successful entrepreneurs - for
example, Tata, Birla, Modi, Dalmia, Kirloskar, Ramasamy, TVS Iyengar, and
Anantharamakrishnan. When we study about them we find besides twelve
characteristics of the entrepreneurs as enumerated above, several other
characteristics in them. They are: hard work, time/speed, self reliance,
communicator, motivator, initiative, discipline, will power, optimistic,
strategist, sound knowledge, technical knowledge, self confidence, passion,
flexibility, assertiveness, independent, creativity, human relations,
involvement, pride, adaptability, values, foresight, conviction, dynamism,
courage, high energy level, dreamer, determination and commitment.
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CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 METHODOLOGY
The present study is descriptive in nature. The researcher made an
attempt to find out the demographical composition of the samples and to
analyze their perceptions on the ways and means of entrepreneurship. The case
study method reveals their attributes towards their perception on individualistic
patterns in their uniqueness on entrepreneurial ventures.
3.1.1 Research design
According to the population enumeration of the census of India, the
population of entrepreneurs in each state stood at a measureable percentage. In
this connection, it may be mentioned that the problems of social engineering
and population growth has given impetus for the growth of entrepreneurship.
Hence, the scope of the present study has been confined to these people alone.
It comprises 50 samples (estimated) of successful entrepreneurs which have
been selected on random basis. The method of sampling adopted here is
Stratified Random Sampling with the list of entrepreneurs as sampling frame
and the sample size is determined on the basis of a Pilot Survey (taking 10
entrepreneurs). As a matter of fact, entrepreneurs of Indian origin have gained
a lot of significance on account of several factors particularly due to their large
number of population in absorbing the labour force. The research samples were
further confined to micro-level by the researcher’s concentration on only
successful entrepreneurs.
The formula used is
n = Za2 x S2 e2
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Where,
n = sample size
e = marginal error/permissible error α
Za = standard variate at "a" level
S = standard deviation.
In the selection of the sample units for the purpose of the study, those
with less than 5 years of existence and not in business at present have been
completely ignored. It had also been ensured to give representation to different
types of business houses.
The data for the study have been collected mostly from the primary
sources. An elaborate interview schedule was prepared for administering
among the entrepreneurs. For the purpose of conversing the questions, one
entrepreneur for each business shall be selected irrespective of the fact that
some are partnership firms and some are private limited companies.
Apart from these, secondary data have also been collected from different
Government Departments like Department of Commerce & Industries, District
Industries Centers, Department of Economics and Statistics, State Industrial
Development Corporation, etc. The data so collected have been tabulated and
analyzed properly with their level of achievement.
3.1.2 Research questions
1. Entrepreneurship development in any state is very slow and far below
than the all Indian average.
2. The industrial growth in a state has been on low growth path mostly due
to more industrial failures in the small scale sector.
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3. Lack of demand for products, scarcity of working capital and above all,
infrastructure bottlenecks are the main factors for entrepreneurial
backwardness in any given state.
4. Improper project planning, lack of industrial conception, absence of
entrepreneurial class adoptive to competitive and changing market forces
and corrupt bureaucracy have also added to the problem of sickness in
small scale industries.
3.1.3 Scope and limitations of the study
The study conducted has the following scope and limitations:
(i) The scope of the present study has been confined to Indian nationals only.
(ii) Field survey was conducted during 2009 - 2011.
(iii) As the findings and conclusions of this study are based on data collected
from the selected entrepreneurs in the study area, it cannot be generalized
for the entire nation.
(iv) The methodology followed and tools employed in the analysis of the data
involved certain merits as well as demerits of their own and also reflect the
limitations of the database.
(v) Data pertaining to capital, borrowings and time devoted by entrepreneurs
were gathered from the selected entrepreneurs directly. There were no
proper records maintained at the individual or firm level. Thus the
information given by the sample units may not be accurate. However,
utmost care was taken by the researcher to ensure accuracy, by adopting
cross checking methods.
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3.1.4 Climate and concept for the study
It is proposed to analyse the factors that have motivated and facilitated
the entrepreneurship development for study. What makes a man is mostly his
environment and his attitudes. The prevailing social-economic, psychological
and the cultural factors naturally influence a man and act as a source of
inspiration to make a successful living in the society.
Environment and attitudes are not two different separable entities. The
former influences the latter and vice-versa. But the attitudes of people exert
more influence on the environment. Sometimes, man becomes a prisoner of the
environment of which he is the creator. Here again, the attitudes of man are not
static. They are ever changing. Man constantly endeavours to conceive new
and better ideas and indulges in experimenting on them. This process guides to
changed attitudes and changed environments.
The level of economic development differs from one country to another
country because the people of these countries are placed in different socio-
economic setting with different attitudes. Wytinsky remarks that if it was
possible to transplant overnight all the factories of Michigan, Ohio and
Pennsylvania to India without changing the economic attitudes of the people,
two decades later, the country would be as poor as it is now. He felt that the
main source of India's weakness lies in the human factor. What are lacking are
not innate abilities or technical skills in her people but it is the lack of initiative
or interest in improving their economic status.
The paradox of the abundance of innate abilities, the lack of enterprising
qualities in India is well exemplified by Ram K. Vepa. He cited the example of
Bihar, Orissa, Assam and Madhya Pradesh which are endowed with rich
natural resources and have, in the past, produced amazing achievements both
artistic and cultural. He cited the temples at Konark, Bhubaneshwar and
Khajuraho which speak in volumes about the skills of the master-craftsmen and
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the culture of the people of those areas in the past but which remained
backward. Even today, these states remain backward despite massive
investment in public sector projects there since the beginning of the era of
planning in India.
As such, of all the attitudes, innovation, risk taking and future planning
are the most important: from the point of view of industrial development. It is
the entrepreneur who acts as a 'spark plug' to transform the economic scene and
brings a sense of dynamism into it. Entrepreneurs like any other careerists are
not born but they are made. Career depends upon several factors other than the
attitudes of the careerist himself. The attitudes of others like his family
members, friends and relatives and the government would exert influence into
the career making. Entrepreneurship is no exception. Entrepreneurs are not
only a product of their ambitions, but also those of the aspirations of their
family members, friends and the nation.
Certain compulsions also, at times, push them to the entrepreneurial
roles. The encouragement and help received from Government and non-
governmental agencies are some of the important factors instrumental to the
emergence of entrepreneurship. It is proposed in this chapter to enquire into the
entrepreneurs' ambitions, the compelling forces, the sources of motivation, the
facilitating factors, etc.
Table 3.0 shows the distribution of the type of entrepreneurs' families.
84 of the total entrepreneurs (79.2 per cent) were in joint life families at the
time of starting their units and 22 (20.8 per cent) were in nuclear families.
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Table 3.0
District Type of Families
Joint Nuclear Total
Total Count 84 22 106
% within Religion 79.2 20.8 100
% within Families 100 100 100
% of Total 79.2 20.8 100
Source: Field Survey
3.1.5 Presentation of the study
The study has been presented in five chapters: Chapter I deals with the
concept of entrepreneurship and its relationship with economic development,
the emerging trends of small scale industry, objectives of the study and
research design. The second chapter comprehensively reviews the literature
related to this study. Chapter III explains the methodology which is a
combination of the case method and the survey method (popularly known as
the case survey (method). In the next chapter, namely Chapter IV, provides
some empirical support for the paradigm of strategic choice (as opposed to that
of environmental determinism) underlying the theoretical model as proposed in
the earlier chapters. Following the discussions, in Chapter V, narrates the
process of identifying successful entrepreneurs with their entrepreneurial
heuristics and thumb rules so identified with findings and conclusions.
3.1.6 Entrepreneurs' ambitions
Ambitions motivate men. Ambition is an index of one's own
resourcefulness. It activates men, broadens their vision and makes the life more
meaningful. Ambition is not something which is akin to greed or windfall.
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Greed results in disaster and windfall makes one a speculator. Like an
individual, a nation or a region may have their own ambitions or aspirations
which speak of their resourcefulness. Galbraith further explained that because
the people of Asian and African nations are lacking in ambition, they are
lagging behind others in development.
Ambition is the wrench of all motives. The intentions and initiative of a
man are motivated by his ambitions. The importance of ambition in life can be
justified by the common saying "aimless life is a goalless game." Hence, their
aspirations and means to reach their goal is much more important than the man
himself. However, ambitions differ from one person to another person
depending upon the characteristics, priorities, etc. which they have set for
themselves. Sometimes, personal ambitions may come in the way of achieving
national aspirations. Well conceived notions, careful planning, calculated risk
taking, timely decision-making and swift execution make the ambition
meaningful and fruitful and hence the achievement of nation's economic
growth and development.
As regards the entrepreneurs’ ambitions, the entrepreneurs were asked to
rank in order of importance, any three of five given ambitions. The ambitions
marked by them were ranked by weighted score by according three points to
the ambitions ranked first, two points to the ambitions marked second and one
point to the ambition ranked third. On the basis of the percentage of total
weighted score of each ambition, overall ranking was made. As can be
observed from Table 3.1, the ambition of “gaining independent living or self-
employment” was ranked first. “To make money” received second rank, and to
“to gain social prestige” was the third ranked ambition.
"To fulfill the desire of myself/my father/my wife" was the fourth
ranked ambition. The "other" ambition ranked fifth which includes the desire
to do something new or creative, self- employment to youths, etc. It is clear
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from the above analysis that the entrepreneurs had mainly the ambition of
gaining independent living or self-employment, making money, gaining social
prestige and fulfilling the desires of himself and his family. It is also to be
noted that basically there was only a slight, just an inter-changing, difference in
the ambitions of entrepreneurs in respect of the top three ambitions.
3.2 REASONS COMPELLING ENTREPRENEURS TO ENTER
INDUSTRY
Sometimes the compulsion rather than the ambition leads the man to
success. At times, the initial aspirations and the opportunities may clash with
each other. Then the destiny is shaped none other than by the compulsions
encountered by the individual. Sometimes, one may be thrown out of his job all
of a sudden or he may remain unemployed for long time after his education.
There are also cases of people who start as tiny industry as a diversification of
economic interests and ultimately making lakhs of rupees and providing
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employment to others in hundreds. Such is the importance of the element of
compulsion in everyday life. Hence, it is thought appropriate to examine the
reasons that might have compelled the entrepreneurs to pursue
entrepreneurship.
Table 3.2 shows the compulsion number one that has compelled the
entrepreneurs was the diversification of economic interests (31.3 per cent).
'Unemployment' was the number two compulsion that has driven 23.5 per cent
of the entrepreneurs to the industry whereas 'dissatisfaction' with the previous
job held has shaped the destiny of 21.8 per cent of the entrepreneurs to become
industrialists. Compelling reason that ranked fourth is making use of idle funds
(12.6 per cent).
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It may be interesting to note that 6 entrepreneurs had no compelling
reason to start industry. Moreover, 40 entrepreneurs had not mentioned any
number two compelling reason. Likewise, 35 entrepreneurs did not find any
number three compelling reason to start industry.
It is not an easy task to differentiate between one's ambition and
compulsion. What is an ambition for one entrepreneur may be a compulsion for
another. It is the entrepreneurs' attitudes that ultimately make the difference.
3.3 FACTORS FACILITATING ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Ambitions or compulsions alone may not make an entrepreneur.
Sometimes, the encouragement he got from his family members or his friends
and relatives, the experience he gained in employment, the skills he acquired or
inherited etc., also facilitate the exercise of entrepreneurship. Many factors may
come up in the way of starting an industry. For example, encouragement of the
family elders is very much needed in the process of starting a unit. If they are
reluctant, quite naturally, it is difficult to expect support from others including
entrepreneur's wife. Moreover, first generation entrepreneurs generally face
strong opposition from their parents as occupation pursued by the family so far
is different from what is going to be done by the entrepreneur. Therefore, an
attempt has been made to examine whether there were any such facilitating
factors.
Table 3.3 demonstrates the factors facilitating the emergence of
entrepreneurship. Previous experience in manufacturing was rated highest (33.2
per cent) of all the facilitating factors. The next important factor facilitating
entrepreneurship was the encouragement of family members/relatives/friends
(26.5 per cent). Success stories of entrepreneurs were ranked as the third
important factor (15.6 per cent). Closely followed, acquired or inherited
professional and technical skills were rated as the fourth factor facilitating the
entrepreneurship.
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It is clear from the analysis that there are at least two important factors
facilitating entrepreneurship apart from a few others. They are previous
experience in manufacturing and encouragement of family members/ relatives /
friends. These two were ranked first and second most important factors.
3.4 EXPECTATIONS OF ENTREPRENEURS
Expectations of the entrepreneurs which stimulated their desire to jump
into entrepreneurship and the degree of fulfillment of such expectations are
enquired in this section. It is quite natural that many of the entrepreneurs expect
a lot from the state government and other non-government agencies. Whether
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these expectations get fulfilled or not, they initiate a useful function in
stimulating the desire of the entrepreneur to start a firm.
In this study, a long list of possible expectations or aspirations are given
to the entrepreneurs and asked to mark any expectation or expectations that had
stimulated their desire to enter industry.
Table 3.4 shows the distribution of the expectations. Even though a long
list of expectations is given to the entrepreneurs, 19.6 per cent (11 out of 56
entrepreneurs) and 28 per cent (14 out of 50 entrepreneurs) admitted that they
had no expectations as such. Many of the entrepreneurs (73 out of the total
106) expected financial assistance from State Government, State Industrial
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Development Corporation (SIDCO) and other state and national agencies.
Expectation of getting technical assistance from the government/non-
government agencies ranked second (7.6 percent), whereas expectation of
availability of skilled labour was ranked third (6.6 percent). Only 3
entrepreneurs expected getting of ancillary relation with large firms.
Reasons for dissatisfaction from 21 entrepreneurs who are not satisfied
with the location of their unit are solicited. Table 3.9 observed the reasons for
their dissatisfaction. Inadequate common facilities were rated highest as reason
number one by 16 out of 21 dissatisfied entrepreneurs. To be more precise, lack
of water supply, erratic power condition and more specially, lack of testing
laboratory for raw-materials and products are some of the inadequate common
facilities availed by the entrepreneurs. The second reason was inaccessibility to
markets (rated 17.1 percent) by entrepreneurs.
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The usefulness of attending EDPs from 39 entrepreneurs is also
enquired. Table 4.22 shows the responses from the entrepreneurs. 71.8 per cent
of those entrepreneurs who had taken training programmes (28 out of 39) found
that EDPs are very useful to their enterprises while 17.9 per cent rated it as
useful. Only 5.1 per cent rated attending EDPs as not useful. It can thus be
concluded that attending some sort of entrepreneurial training can go a long run
in the smooth functioning of the small units.
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3.1.7 REFERENCES
1. Davenport Robert W., Financing the small Manufacturing in Developing
Countries, McGraw Hill Book Company, New York, 1967, pp. 12-13.
2. Gupta S.K., 'Entrepreneurship Development Training Programme in India',
Small Enterprise Development', Vol. 1, No.4, December 1990.
3. John Kenneth Galbraith, "Economic Development' Harvard University Press,
Cambridge, 1969, P. 15.
4. Mc Cleland D.C. & Winter D.G., 'Motivating Economic Achievement', The
Free Press, New York, 1969.
5. Ram K. Vepa, "Entrepreneurship for Development of Backward Areas,"
National Productivity Council, New Delhi, 1973, PP. 14 -15.
6. Wytinsky, India: The Awakening Giant, P. 187
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CHAPTER 4
CASES STUDIED
1. AJAY PIRAMAL -PIRAMAL ENTERPRISES LIMITED
Ajay Piramal is the Chairman of Piramal Enterprises Limited, India.
From owning what was then an almost defunct textile company, Piramal today
is the Chairman of Rs.4,000 crore group, comprising Nicholas Piramal, the
fourth - largest pharmaceutical company in India, Morarjee Weaving and
Spinning and Gujarat Glass.
In 1988, he heard from a friend that Nicholas Laboratories, an
Australian MNC that was exiting India, is up for sale. There were many large
suitors but Piramal decided to meet Mike Barker, the man in charge of selling
the company, and told him that he had no track record, was only 33, but was
confident of achieving his dream of putting Nicholas among the top five
pharma companies in India (from 48th at that time). Barker laughed with
disbelief but decided to sell the company to him after hearing out the "young
and untried entrepreneur's" turnaround plan. He took the company to a place
among the top five pharmaceutical companies in India through a string of
overseas acquisitions like the Indian subsidiaries of Roche, Boehringer
Mannheim, Rhone Poulenc, ICI and Hoechst Research Centre.
Piramal says proudly that a decade later he went to see Barker in
retirement in Kenya armed with Nicholas' annual report which showed that the
company was among the top five pharma companies in India. Ajay Piramal
draws his inspiration from “Foot prints on the sands of time”. This story, writes
Business Standard, has acted as a guiding spirit for him.
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2. AMAR BOSE - BOSE CORPORATION
Amar Gopal Bose born in 1929 is the Founder Chairman of Bose
Corporation. An American electrical engineer of Bengali descent, he was listed
on the 2007 Forbes 400 with a net worth of $1.8 billion. The child of an Indian
Bengali father and white American mother, Bose was born and raised in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Bose graduated from Abington Senior High
School and entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating with
a BS in Electrical Engineering in the early 1950s. Bose spent a year in
Eindhoven, Netherlands, in the research labs at NV Philips Electronics and a
year in Delhi, India, as a Fulbright student. He completed his Ph.D. in
electrical engineering from MIT, writing a highly mathematical thesis on non-
linear systems.
Following graduation, Bose took a position at MIT as an Assistant
Professor. He focused his research on acoustics, leading him to invent a stereo
loudspeaker that would reproduce, in a domestic setting, the dominantly
reflected sound field that characterizes the listening space of the audience in a
concert hall.
Bose was awarded significant patents in two fields which, to this day,
are important to the Bose Corporation. These patents were in the area of loud
speaker design and non-linear, two-state modulated, Class-D, power
processing.
To found his company in 1964, for initial capital, he turned to angel
investors including his MIT thesis advisor and Professor, Dr. Y. W. Lee (who
invested his life savings on the effort). Today, the Bose Corporation is a
multifaceted entity with more than 12,000 employees, worldwide, that
produces products for home, car, and professional audio, as well as conducts
basic research in acoustics, automotive systems, and other fields. In addition
to running his company, Bose remained a Professor at MIT until 2000.
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3. S. ANANTHARAMAKRISHNAN – AMALGAMATION GROUP
Sivasailam Anantharamakrishnan (1905–1964), affectionately called "J"
was an Indian industrialist and business tycoon who founded and led the
Amalgamations Group of industries from 1945 to 1964.
EARLY YEARS WITH SIMPSON AND COMPANY
Anantharamakrishnan joined Simpsons Group, a British-owned South
Indian business conglomerate as Secretary in 1935. He became one of the three
directors and the only Indian director (the other two being European) in the
board of Simpsons group when Sir Alexander MacDougall, Chairman of
Simpson's, and W.W. Ladden, Managing Director of the Company founded a
holding company in 1938. Anantharamakrishnan's induction marked the partial
Indianization of Simpsons group which was, till then, completely owned by
Europeans. The very next year, it was converted into a public limited company.
This eventually became the Amalgamations Group in 1941.
EXPANSION OF THE AMALGAMATIONS GROUP
In 1922, John Oakshott Robinson of Spencer's had purchased the
Madras newspaper The Madras Mail and the Higginbotham's and merged the
companies with his printing company Associated Printers and the Spencer's to
form the Associated Publishers. In 1945, Anantharamakrishnan purchased
Associated Publishers on behalf of Amalgamations and added the new
companies to the group. According to popular Chennai historian S. Muthiah,
the successful takeover was the result of an overheard conversation at a Hotel
Connemara. This takeover is regarded as over of the biggest business deals of
post-colonial Madras.
During the period 1938–1955, the group also promoted a finance
company called Simpson and General Finance, an advertising company
(Madras Advertising Company), Wheel-Precision Forgings, Speed-a-way and
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Wallaces Castwright. India Piston was established in 1949. Addison Paints and
Chemicals were established in 1947. With Indian independence and
Indianization of commercial establishments in the country, the Europeans in
the board left handing the company to Indians. Consequently,
Anantharamakrishnan became the Chairman of the Amalgamations group in
1953. Anantharamakrishnan died an untimely death on April 18, 1964 at the
age of fifty-nine.
4. ANIL AGARWAL – VEDANTA GROUP
Agarwal has travelled a long way, from the Patna lad who left school at
15 to founder, Chairman of the $10 billion conglomerate Vedanta Resources.
“One of the most thrilling moments of my life was the day I got my first
cycle,” reminisces Anil Agarwal, founder Chairman of the London Stock
Exchange-listed mining and metals conglomerate with a market cap of $10
billion. The cycle, a gift from his father, a fabricator of grills and gates in
small-town Patna in the 1960s, meant the youngster could ride to his municipal
school in style, instead of making the daily 10 km hike on foot. Much later,
Agarwal graduated to a Vespa scooter, but never made it to college. Agarwal
came to Mumbai as a scrap-metal dealer in 1976, going on to build an empire
in copper, zinc, aluminium and iron ore, recently venturing into power
generation.
Vedanta Resources was the only Indian group to go for a primary listing
on the London Stock Exchange in 2003 and its subsidiary, Sterlite Industries,
was listed on NYSE in 2007 in the largest IPO in the US by an Indian
company. The tipping point came in 2003. Frustrated with the licence raj
regime and the constraints of raising capital in India, Agarwal had earlier
moved to London. From a British newspaper he learnt that Brian Gilbertson,
the South African dealmaker who engineered the $57 billion takeover of BHP
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by Billiton in 2001 to create the world’s largest mining group, had fallen out
with the merged leadership.
So Agarwal made a cold call, just like that: “I always take a chance. I
told Gilbertson that I would like him to help me list my company.” In turn,
Gilbertson asked about his hobbies, and Agarwal recollects, “I told him that
my hobbies are whatever the other man wants. Gilbertson said, ‘I do cycling.’ I
replied, ‘I do cycling too’.” The pair biked 60 km from Oxford to London,
with Agarwal trailing. Agarwal reflects, “Some strength helped me cover that
distance. Gilbertson came to India, checked out all our assets and was
impressed. I offered him a good package and he became Chairman.” Vedanta
subsequently attracted others on the board—P. Chidambaram, the late Sir
David Gore-Booth and Michael Fowle, Chairman, KPMG—and the company
successfully listed on the London Stock Exchange. With this, Agarwal became
a global player in mining and metals in less than a decade.
When Agarwal came to Mumbai for the first time as a 20-year-old, he
was fascinated by Narendra Desai, Chairman, Apar Group, the doyen of the
aluminum industry at that time. Thirty years later, the two still meet over a cup
of tea every week and share a bond that transcends business. Agarwal says,
“He is a follower of the Hare Krishna movement. From him I learnt that you
can be an industrialist and also be a bhakt.”
In 1993, Ranjit Pandit, now Managing Director, General Atlantic, had
just moved back to Mumbai from New York, to open McKinsey and Co.’s
India practice, which he chaired. In inimitable Agarwal style, Pandit got a call
out of the blue, with Agarwal describing Sterlite as a small company which had
a lot to learn. From then on, Pandit has been a regular sounding board. He says:
“Look at the power generation company he’s going to list. It has just
1,000MW, but he’s growing it to 10,000MW, and his valuation is based on
that”.
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The person who has perhaps most influenced Agarwal’s recent thinking
is an American, Steve Elbaum, Chairman, Superior Cables, inspired Agarwal’s
2006 $1 billion pledge to set up the Vedanta University, a world-class
university, on a 3,200 ha site in Orissa. Says Agarwal: “I want to spend 20% of
my time on philanthropy, building lasting institutions the way American
industrialists have done. That’s my passion now”. His critics say the real
motivation is Vedanta’s interests in Orissa, which holds the world’s fourth
largest bauxite deposits—the mining of these has been opposed by some
environmentalists and tribals, resulting in Norway’s Government Pension Fund
divesting its small holding in Vedanta.
5. AZIM PREMJI - WIPRO
Achievements: Azim Premji has several achievements to his credit. In
2000, the Asia week magazine voted Premji among the 20 most powerful men
in the world. He was among the 50 richest people in the world from 2001 to
2003 as listed by Forbes. In April 2004, Time magazine rated him among the
100 most influential people in the world. In 2005, the Indian Government
honoured Azim Premji with the Padma Bhushan. Chairman of Wipro
Technologies; one of the richest Indians for the past several years; his success
story is a source of inspiration to a number of budding entrepreneurs.
He was studying Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, USA,
when due to sudden demise of his father he was called upon to handle the
family business. He took over the reins of family business in 1966 at the age of
21 years.
At the first general meeting of the company attended by Azim Premji, a
shareholder doubted Premji’s ability to handle business at such a young age
and publicly advised him to sell his shareholding and give to a more mature
management. This spurred him and made him all the more determined to make
Wipro a success story. And the rest is history. When Azim Premji occupied
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the hot seat, Wipro dealt with in hydrogenated cooking fats and later
diversified into bakery fats, ethnic ingredient based toiletries, hair care soaps,
baby toiletries, lighting products and hydraulic cylinders. Thereafter Premji
made a focused shift from soaps to software. Under his leadership Wipro has
metamorphosed from a Rs.70 million company in hydrogenated cooking fats to
a pioneer in providing integrated business, technology and process solutions on
a global delivery platform. Today, Wipro Technologies is the largest
independent R&D service provider in the world. Under his leadership, the
fledgling US$ 2 million hydrogenated cooking fat company has grown to a
US$1.76 billion IT Services organization serving customers across the globe.
In the past two years Wipro has also become the largest BPO services provider,
based in India. Wipro’s growth continues be driven by its core values.
Wipro was the first Indian Company to embrace Six Sigma, the first
Software Services Company in the world to achieve SEI CMM Level 5 and it
also became the world’s first organization to achieve PCMM Level 5 (People
Capability Maturity Model). Premji equates Quality with Integrity – both being
non-negotiable.
In the year 2001, Premji established Azim Premji Foundation, a not-for-
profit organization with a vision of significantly contributing to quality
universal education to build a just, equitable and humane society. This means
every child receiving quality education. Although one of the richest Indians,
he flies economy class and is happiest when hiking, reading or discussing the
foundation he has set up to promote primary education.
“Excellence endures and sustains. It goes beyond motivation into the
realms of inspiration. Excellence can be as strong a uniting force as solid
vision. What is excellence? It is an unending great journey all about going a
little beyond what we expect from ourselves. I have found that excellence is
not so much a battle you fight with others, but a battle you fight with yourself,
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by constantly raising the bar and stretching yourself and your team”, Azim
Premji.
HOW DOES ONE CREATE EXCELLENCE IN AN ORGANIZATION?
First, we create an obsession with excellence. We must dream and think
of excellence not only with our mind but also with our heart and soul. Let us
look outside, at the global standards of excellence in quality, cost and delivery
and let us not rest until we surpass them.
Second, we need to build a collective self-confidence, because
excellence requires tremendous faith in one's ability to do more and in a better
way. Unless, we believe we can do better, we cannot.
Third, we must understand the difference between perfection for its
own sake and excellence. Time is of essence. Excellence is about doing the
best we can and speed lies in doing it quickly. These two concepts are not
opposed to each other; in fact, speed and timeliness are important elements of
quality and excellence.
Fourth, we must realise that we cannot be the best in everything we do.
We have to define what our own core competencies are and what we can
outsource to other leaders. Headaches shared are headaches divided.
Fifth, we must create processes like Six Sigma, CMM or ISO that
enable excellence. Use them because they are based on distilled wisdom and it
is imperative that we use the most modern tools to keep processes updated.
Sixth, we must create a culture of teaming (Quality). Cross-functional
teams that are customer facing can cut through an amazing amount of
bureaucracy, personal empire building and silos and deliver savings that
spreads to the rest of the organization and teaming becomes a way of life.
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Seventh, invest in excellence for the future. Future always seems to be
at a distance. But it comes upon you so suddenly that it catches you by
surprise, if not shock. We must certainly trim our discretionary expenses, but
must ensure that our investments in strategic areas lead to excellence are
protected.
Finally, excellence requires humility. This is especially needed when
we feel we have reached the peak of excellence and there is nothing further we
can do. We need an open mind to look at things in a different way and allow
new inputs to come in. The great man then shared some tips for success:
• Have the courage to think big; never compromise on fundamental values;
• Build up self-confidence, always look ahead and have the best around you;
• Have an obsessive commitment to quality; play to win; and
• Leave the rest to the force beyond.
6. BHAI MOHAN SINGH - RANBAXY LABORATORIES LIMITED
Bhai Mohan Singh, founder of pharmaceutical giant Ranbaxy
Laboratories, can be called as the doyen of pharmaceutical industry in India.
Bhai Mohan Singh was born in 1917 in Rawalpindi district. Bhai Mohan Singh
began his business career in the construction business during the Second World
War. He started business as a moneylender. Ranbaxy was started by his
cousins Ranjit Singh and Gurbax Singh. Ranbaxy’s name was a fusion of
Ranjit and Gurbax’s names. When Ranbaxy defaulted on a loan, Bhai Mohan
Singh bought the company on August 1, 1952, for Rs.2.5 lakhs.
Bhai Mohan Singh collaborated with Italian pharma company Lapetit
Spa and later on bought it. He made his mark in the pharmaceuticals industry
in the late 1960s when he launched his first superbrand, Calmpose, which was
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an imitation of Roche’s valium. He established an R&D facility at Mohali and
launched one blockbuster pill after the other, such as Roscillin, Cifran, etc.
Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd went public in 1973. Bhai Mohan Singh also
co-founded Max India with his youngest son, Analjit Singh. As a pioneer of
India's pharmaceuticals industry, 89-year-old Bhai Mohan Singh was the
survivor of many a courtroom and boardroom battles, be it to regain hold over
the company or to claim rights to products and patents.
Bhai Mohan Singh died on March 27, 2006. He was the ex-Vice
President of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC). For his
contribution in civic matters he was awarded the Padma Shri. For his
contribution to the industrial development of Punjab, the Punjab Government
named an industrial township near Ropar after him.
7. BRIJMOHAN LAL MUNJAL - THE HERO GROUP
Achievements: Chairman of Hero Group; honoured with Ernst &
Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2001. Today, the Hero Group is the largest
manufacturer of two-wheelers in the world and B.M.Munjal is the man
credited with its success.
His journey began in 1944 at the age of 20. He along with his three
brothers moved from his birthplace Kamalia in Pakistan to Amritsar. The
brothers started supplying components to the local bicycle business. After
partition in 1947, the family was forced to move to Ludhiana. In 1952, Munjals
made a shift from supplying to manufacturing. They started manufacturing
handlebars, front forks and chains. In 1956, the Punjab state government
announced the issue of 12 new industrial licenses to make bicycles in
Ludhiana. The Munjal brothers cashed on this opportunity. Soon Hero Cycles
started giving well established players such as Raleigh, Hind Cycles and Atlas
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Cycles a run for their money. The Hero Cycle was comparatively cheaper and
was sturdy and reliable. It gave the customers value for their money.
In 1984, Japan’s Honda, the largest manufacturer of motorcycles
elicited interest in collaborating with the Hero Group to manufacture
motorcycles in India. Even after the collaboration has broken, the Hero Group
is the largest manufacturer of motorcycles in the world.
SEEDING A DREAM
The founder and patriarch of the $ 2.8 billion Hero Group is a classic
first generation entrepreneur. He is a man who started small, dreamt big and
used a combination of grit and perseverance to create one of the country's
largest corporate groups and the World's No.1 two wheeler company.
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
When Brijmohan and his brothers started out, there was no concept of
organized dealer networks. Companies just produced, and most dealers
functioned like traders. Brijmohan changed the rules of the business by trusting
his gut instincts; introducing business norms that were ahead of their time, and
by investing in strategic relationships. "Thanks to the relationships that we
have nurtured so passionately in the Hero Family, the younger generations of
some of our bicycle dealers have become dealers of Hero Honda. These
relationships have survived through generations - through bad times and good
times'' the patriarch now reminiscences.
STAYING AHEAD
In the 1980s, when all two-wheeler companies in India opted for two-
stroke engine technology, Brijmohan preferred a four-stoke engine - a
technology that dramatically increased fuel efficiency and reduced
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maintenance costs. This technology was one of the biggest reasons for Hero
Honda's stupendous success.
A CORPORATE CITIZEN
The Ludhiana Stock Exchange owes its existence to Brijmohan's vision
as does the Ludhiana Flying Club. He has also set up the not-for-profit
Dayanand Medical College and Hospital - an institute now rated as one of the
best medical colleges in India, in terms of infrastructure, quality of staff and
alumni profile.
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero Cycles
and launched another company called Highway Cycles that would make
freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal restructured and streamlined
Hero’s rapidly expanding business. Within a span of 6-7 years, production at
the Hero Cycles plant doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer
of bicycles in India.
He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the original four
brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal companies. The second premise
was that any Munjal who wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now
what did that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and 2000, the
business began to expand and to diversify -- they went into textile spinning,
they went into financial services . . . although not all of these succeeded.
They had also integrated vertically right up to a cold-rolling steel mill.
But the biggest and the most important factor in all this was their continuous
growth in the auto components' segment, and this would become perhaps the
Munjal's key competitive strength.
Brijmohan Munjal is steady in his dedication towards his work. With
the widespread network of 5,000 dealers across the country, the Hero Group
today is a conglomerate with an annual turnover of Rs.10,000 crore. Highs and
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lows, rewards and backlashes have all been a part of the Hero Group's
corporate story, but downfalls did not discourage them, nor did losses kill their
spirit of entrepreneurship.
8. CHETAN MAINI: REVA ELECTRIC CAR
Chetan Maini began building toy cars and planes when he was eight.
And, with some nifty workmanship, he has turned his hobby into an innovative
business. He serves as Chief of Technology & Strategy Officer and Deputy
Chairman of Mahindra REVA Electric Vehicle Co Ltd. (alternative name is
REVA Electric Car Company Private Ltd.), a joint venture between Maini
Group of Bangalore and AEV LLC, USA. Mr. Maini has over 14 years
experience with electric vehicles during the course of which he has developed
over 6 electric, solar and hybrid-electric vehicles in India and US. At Stanford,
he served as the project leader.
In this regard, Chetan Kumar Maini, the former owner of Reva Electric
Cars is a lucky man to have built a remote-controlled toy car at the age of 8,
and won a school prize in the sixth standard. Later, he started building toy
planes and go-carts with a scooter engine. As a mechanical engineering
student, he built solar and hybrid cars. And, finally, he designed and built a
battery-operated car - India's first electric car, the Reva. He just takes three
weeks to put together a model. Today, Maini picks up most of his ready-to-
assemble kits from shops in Bangalore for Rs.6, 000 to 12,000 apiece.
His childhood fascination for cars led him to pursue a mechanical
engineering degree from the University of Michigan. Maini's fascination for
hybrid vehicles really took off during his postgraduate days at Stanford. He
spent a lot of time researching green technologies and companies that were
working in that space.
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"In my college days, we were four friends who were working on a solar
car together. We were always looking at starting a company, especially in the
electric vehicles space," he says. That is how he ended up working for a
company called Amerigon, which was working on the electric vehicle
technology. And that is where the idea of Reva was born.
When Maini introduced Reva in India in 2001, the auto market looked
at his electric car with amusement, some even indulged him by taking test
rides, but few took the car seriously. In late-2006, the company received an
investment of $20 million from Draper Fisher Jurveston and Global
Environment Fund to help Reva's strategic growth globally.
9. DEEPAK PAREKH – HDFC
He is a Chartered Accountant. Mr. Parekh is a Fellow of the Institute of
Chartered Accountants (England & Wales). He is designated as Chartered
Financial Accountant from England and Wales. Mr. Parekh received a
Bachelor of Economics of Bombay University and holds a Financial Chartered
Accountant degree from England and Wales.
Mr. Parekh joined Housing Development Finance Corporation in a
senior management position in 1978 and served as its Managing Director from
1985 to 1993. He is an eminent banker and a renowned financial expert in the
country. He served as the unofficial Crisis Consultant to the Government of
India. He began his career with Ernst & Young Management Consultancy
Services in New York.
HDFC has reached where it is today because of sheer hard work and
shared vision.
Mr. Parekh was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2006 for his
contribution in the field of trade and industry. On January 24, 2008, Mr.
Parekh was awarded the lifetime achievement award by Finance Asia for his
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contribution towards the banking/financial sector in Asia in 2003. He was also
the first recipient of the Qimpro platinum award for Quality for his
contributions to the services sector and the youngest recipient of the
prestigious corporate award for lifetime achievement from the Economic
Times. He has won several other awards including 'Hall of Fame' award by
Outlook Money Magazine in 2005 and Best Non Executive Director award by
the Asian Centre for Corporate Governance in 2006.
10. DHIRUBHAI AMBANI – RELIANCE GROUP
Achievements: Dhiru Bhai Ambani built India’s largest private sector
company. He created an equity cult in the Indian capital market. Reliance is the
first Indian company to feature in Forbes 500 list.
Dhirubhai Ambani was the most enterprising Indian entrepreneur. His
life journey is reminiscent of the rags to riches story. Dhirajlal Hirachand
Ambani was born in 1932, at Chorwad, Gujarat, into a Modh family. His father
was a school teacher. Ambani started his entrepreneurial career selling
“bhajias” to pilgrims in Mount Girnar over the weekends.
After doing his matriculation at the age of 16, Ambani moved to Aden,
Yemen. He worked there as a gas-station attendant, and as a clerk in an oil
company. He returned to India in 1958 with Rs.50, 000 and set up a textile
trading company. Assisted by his two sons, Mukesh and Anil, Dhirubhai built
India’s largest private sector company, Reliance India Limited, from scratch.
Over time his business has diversified into a core specialization in
petrochemicals with additional interests in telecommunications, information
technology, energy, power, retail, textiles, infrastructure services, capital
markets and logistics.
Dhirubhai revolutionized capital markets. From nothing, he generated
billions of rupees in wealth for those ho put their trust in his companies. His
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efforts helped create an ‘equity cult’ in the Indian capital market. With
innovative instruments like the convertible debenture, Reliance quickly
became a favourite of the stock market in the 1980s.
In 1992, Reliance became the first Indian company to raise money in
global markets, its high credit taking in international markets limited only by
India’s sovereign rating. Reliance also became the first Indian company to
feature in Forbes 500 list. Dhirubhai Ambani was named the Indian
entrepreneur of the 20th century by the Federation of Indian Camber of
Commerce and Industry. A poll conducted by the Times of India in 2000 voted
him ‘greatest creator of wealth in the century’.
He is the man behind Reliance Industries, whose empire extends from
petrochemicals to textiles. With his vision and astute leadership, Ambani has
succeeded in established Reliance as one of the largest private sector company
in India. Dhirubhai Ambani has received global adulation for his success. In a
recent poll conducted by Asia week, he was selected as one of the 5 most
powerful people in Asia. He has been profiled by Times of India in their
section-Indian of the Century. He was awarded the Wharton School Daan’s
medal for his contribution as a leader to international business, world economy
and political policy.
11. EKTA KAPOOR - BALAJI TELEFILMS
Achievements: Creative Director of Balaji Telefilms; awarded with
Ernst & Young Start up Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2001. Ekta Kapoor
can be aptly called the reigning queen of Indian television industry. The serials
produced by her company are a great hit with the masses and are dominating
all the major T.V. channels.
Ekta is the daughter of former Bollywood superstar Jeetendra and sister
of the current Bollywood hero Tusshar Kapoor. Ekta did her schooling from
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Bombay Scottish School and later on joined Mithibai College. She was not
interested in academics and on the advice of her father ventured into TV serial
production at the age of 19. Her company has produced more than 25 serials
and each one is being shown, on an average, four times a week on different
channels. Ekta Kapoor’s serials have captured the imagination of the masses.
She has broken all previous records of TV serial production and popularity in
India.
Ekta Kapoor has produced and co-produced numerous soap operas,
television series and movies. Today, Ekta Kapoor dominates Indian television,
producing more than eight television soaps for STAR Plus, India's leading
general entertainment channel.
She has traversed a long way, pushing through a host of odds that have
stood her way since her first musical game show Dhum Dhamaka went on air
around 1994.
The self-confessed control freak has moved on to making films, though
the factor continues in her life, stronger than ever. From the small screen to the
big, she still courts controversy with the way she deals with some of the
subjects in her serials; she still hires and fires people.
Though her dreams appeared to shatter as her creative products flopped
on the small screen, her confidence in herself and her belief in the Almighty
saw her pulling off success with a hilarious comedy show "Hum Paanch".
After that there has been no looking back for this young wizard of Indian
television.
Today, Balaji is no more a private limited enterprise but a public limited
company. And no prizes for guessing how much sweat, toil and labour the
largest and youngest single producer of television software in the history of
India's entertainment industry has put in.
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Despite the popularity of her soaps, Ekta has received a lot of criticism
for her controversial and bold scenes, the portrayal of female characters, false
sophisticated sets and repetitive, frivolous plots. In the short span of her career
this young entrepreneur of India has achieved many awards and civic honours.
She was chosen to lead the Confederation of Indian Industries' (CII)
entertainment committee. Truly, it is not Ekta Kapoor alone for the bull's eye
success of Balaji Telefilms, rather there is a strong team of more than 300
professionals who are sincerely working behind the scenes and so the
familiarity must have gone to the company and its team and not Ekta alone.
12. GALLA RAMACHANDRA NAIDU – AMARARAJA BATTERIES
Dr. Ramachandra Naidu Galla born in1938 is an Indian industrialist, the
founder of the Amara Raja Group of companies. He is married to Aruna
Kumari Galla, a minister in the Andhra Pradesh state government.
CAREER
Galla was born in the village of Petamitta in Chitoor District, Andhra
Pradesh. He did his bachelors in Electrical Engineering at Jawaharlal Nehru
University in Anantapur, then took a masters degree at the Regional
Engineering College, Rourkela and a second masters degree at Michigan State
University. After leaving Michigan, he worked for US Steel, and then as a
consulting engineer on the design of power plants.
He returned to India in the 1980s, when he founded Amara Raja
Batteries in Chitoor; the group spun off a number of subsidiaries, including
Galla Foods and Mangal Precision Products. The group currently has an annual
turnover of Rs.1900 crore.
Dr. Ramachandra N. Galla is the patriarch of an illustrious business
family of Andhra Pradesh, Gallas, who have established a name for themselves
by successfully setting up Amara Raja Batteries. Dr. Galla started his career as
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an Electrical Engineer in US Steel Corporation, USA moved on to Sargent &
Lundy, USA as a Consulting Engineer for the Designing of Nuclear & Coal
Fired Power Plant. He initiated various projects in these corporations &
mastered the ropes of this competitive business in a very short time. However,
he soon discovered that his natural inclination was serving his country and as a
logical sequel he gravitated towards Chittoor his native place in India.
Dr. Galla laid the foundation of Amara Raja batteries in 1985 in Chittoor.
Dr. Galla's finest hour as a businessman came in 1998 when he was
presented Best Entrepreneur of the Year 1998 ” – by Hyderabad Management
Association, Hyderabad. He has been bestowed with honorary doctorate
degrees from Jawaharlal Nehru Technical University in 2008 at Hyderabad &
Sri Venkateswara University in 2007 at Tirupati. He has also been conferred
with “The Spirit of Excellence” award by Academy of Fine Arts, Tirupati, and
various other prestigious awards.
He is passionate about a corporate’s responsibility to society as well as
championing eco-friendly business practices. Dr. Galla has established various
charitable trusts. He is dedicated to rural development and improving the
economic conditions of the farmers in Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh.
13. GAUTAM ADANI - ADANI GROUP
Gautam Adani born in 1962 is the Chairman of the Adani Group, a
leading trading and export company of India. In September, 2010 Forbes
magazine announced that Adani is the 6th richest person in India with a
personal wealth of US $10 billion as of March, 2011. He is the first billionaire
from the city of Ahmedabad.
Gautam Adani was born in Ahmedabad, India, to Shantilal and
Shantaben Adani in a Gujarati Jain family. He set out for Mumbai to make a
living with only a few hundred rupees at the age of 18. He studied at the Seth
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C. N. Vidyalya School in Ahmedabad and later on at Gujarat University. Adani
is a University dropout; he studied till his second year for a Bachelor's Degree
in Commerce.
He worked in Mumbai as a diamond sorter at Mahindra Bros. After
working there for two years, Adani, 20 at that time, set up his own diamond
brokerage outfit at Zaveri Bazaar and made his first lakh.
In 1981, one year later, his elder brother Mansukhbhai, bought a plastics
unit in Ahmedabad and asked Gautam to run it. This marked the beginning of
Adani's foray into global trading by beginning to import polyvinyl chloride
(PVC), a key raw material for manufacturing plastics. After the economic
liberalization, the import duty on various goods was slashed, and profits of
Adani Exports, then his flagship company, grew immensely.
In the first half of the 1990s, the American multinational Cargill and the
small Indian company Adani Group joined hands for a project to produce and
export salt from Gujarat. The Americans exited the proposed partnership citing
management and control differences, leaving the Indian partner with 5,000
acres of land for which it had no use. Gautam Adani could have been in
trouble. But he saw there an opportunity. Call it prescience, providence or a
good gamble. In place of the captive jetty to export the salt, now stands
Mundra Port, India’s largest private port. The surrounding land is home to the
largest multi-product special economic zone in the country. These crown
jewels on the Gujarat coastline stand testimony to Adani’s business
acumen. He started with an investment of Rs.5 lakh in 1988, and his group’s
current turnover is Rs. 7,000 crore.
Adani soon saw an opportunity to import plastic and break the
monopoly of the local manufacturers. Adani Exports Ltd was formed in 1988
as a partnership firm. The company went public in the mid 1990s, by which
time it had expanded to coal and scrap metal businesses. Says Pranav Adani,
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his nephew and Managing Director of Adani Wilmar: “What separates him
from the rest is that he can see 5-7 years ahead.”
Mundra was the fountainhead of the group’s activity—the locus of all
expansion that followed. After building the port, Adani added backward and
forward links to complete the chain. As the port became active, he realized that
there would be need for power and began importing coal. This was the seed for
his foray into power and energy sector.
The transition of his flagship company, Adani Enterprises, would be
more spectacular. From a trading house with around Rs.22, 000 crore revenue,
it is set to become an infrastructure conglomerate with more than Rs.42, 000
crore revenue by 2012. “Adani Group can make India and Indian infrastructure
happen,” says Uday Kotak, Vice-Chairman and MD, Kotak Mahindra Bank.
Adani Enterprises is among the top five players in every business it is
into, says a research report by the financial services firm IDFC-SSKI.
Currently, it is the largest trading house in India and the largest private sector
player in coal trading with 20 million tonnes contracts in 2008-09. It is also the
largest private company in power trading. Adani plans to emulate the success
in his newer ventures. He has earmarked investments of over Rs.25, 000 crore
over the next three years. “What people accomplish in 10 years, my father
wants to do in two,” says Karan.
Adani Group’s entry into power generation thus becomes an automatic
extension. It is also the most ambitious. It will determine the group’s fate and
its rise to the top echelons of Indian industry. But Adani has a clear-cut plan.
“With the development of power plants, we will be vertically integrated and
drawing synergistic benefits among the Adani Group companies for capturing
value across the entire chain,” he says.
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Does Adani function purely as an instinctive entrepreneur or is there a
process to his ambition? “Three years ago we were not in the power business.
But when the State Electricity Act gave way to deregulation, we entered the
business,” say Pranav and Karan.
14. GHANSHYAM DAS BIRLA – BIRLA GROUP
Achievement: Laid the foundations of the Birla Empire; founder of the
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
Ghanshyam Das Birla is the man who laid the foundation of the Birla
Empire. He was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi and advised Gandhiji on
economic policies. He was the most important pre-Independence contributor to
the Indian National Congress. He is also popularly known as the builder of
Birla Mandirs.
Born in 1894, G.D. Birla was a native of Pilani. His grandfather Shiv
Narayan Birla was a traditional marwari moneylender. Ghanshyam Das Birla
entered the business arena during the time of First World War. He established a
cotton mill in Sabzi Mandi, and later on established Keshoram Cotton Mills.
Along with cotton mills he diversified to jute business and shifted his base to
Calcutta city in Bengal, the world's largest jute producing region. He
established Birla Jute Mills in Bengal, much to the consternation of established
European merchants.
In 1919, with an investment of Rs.50 lakhs, the Birla Brothers Limited
was formed and a mill was set up in Gwalior. In 1930s, G.D. Birla set up Sugar
and Paper mills. In 1940s, he ventured into the territory of cars and established
Hindustan Motors. After independence, Ghanshyam Das Birla invested in tea
and textiles through a series of acquisitions of erstwhile European companies.
He also expanded and diversified into cement, chemicals, rayon and steel
tubes.
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After independence, the Birlas expanded their business and started
production in many fields. Near Mirzapur, he, in collaboration with Caesar, an
American friend, set up an Aluminum Plant Hindalco. Ghanshyam Das Birla
also founded several educational institutions. Birla Institute of Technology and
Sciences (BITS) Pilani has today evolved into one of India’s best engineering
schools. He also established many temples, planetariums, and hospitals.
In 1957, he was awarded India’s second highest civilian honour, the
"Padma Vibhushan" by the Government of India. G.D. Birla award for
scientific Research has been established to encourage scientists for their
contribution in the various fields of scientific research in his honor. The Birla
family is one of the foremost business houses in India. During the decades of
70`s and 80`s, Birla brothers were among the topmost Industrial Houses of
India. Their businesses vary from petrochemicals and textiles to automobiles
and Infocomm.
Ghanshyam Das Birla died in 1983 at the age of 90.
15. GOENKA. R.P. – RPG GROUP
Rama Prasad Goenka MP is the founder and currently Chairman
Emeritus of the RPG Group, one of India's leading industrial houses. With a
turnover of more than Rs.8000 crore last year, the RPG Group's core business
activities include power (CESC, which supplies power to the city of Kolkata);
Tyre (CEAT, a leading Indian tyre company); power transmission (KEC
International, the world's second largest EPC power transmission company),
retailing (Spencer's, India's largest organized retail chain), entertainment
(Saregama India, India's oldest music company) and technology (which
embraces life sciences and IT).
Born in Kolkata in 1930, Rama Prasad Goenka was educated at the
famed Presidency College, where he came in touch with some outstanding
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teachers of his time and picked up an abiding interest in history and economics.
Soon after his graduation, Rama Prasad Goenka became associated with the
Indian jute industry. At a very young age as Chairman of Indian Jute Mills
Association, he played a leading role in underscoring the need for modernizing
the traditional industries.
The RPG Group was set up in 1980 with jute, cable and carbon black,
with a turnover of Rs.70 crore. He, found time to have a stint at Harvard
University and later took pioneering steps to invite the renowned IMD at
Lausanne to India and set up the International Management Institute in Delhi,
where he continues as Chairman. Rama Prasad Goenka is a former Chairman
of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and
Chairman of the Confederation of Asia Pacific Chambers of Commerce &
Industry, where he continues as a Member of the Advisory Board.
Currently a Rajya Sabha member of the Parliament, R.P. Goenka is
deeply involved in social work. He is a Trustee of the Jawaharlal Nehru
Memorial Fund and a Trustee of the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust. He is also
a trustee of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. Rama Prasad Goenka has taken
abiding interest in education, particularly higher education and served as
Chairman of Board of Governors of this Institute for two terms, during which
IIT Kharagpur was rated the country's No. 1 engineering education institute by
India Today.
During his colourful business career spanning more than five decades,
Rama Prasad Goenka served many public institutions. He is a former Director
of the Central Board of Reserve Bank of India, General Insurance Company of
India, Steel Authority of India and Industrial Development Bank of India.
In recognition of his unique services, the Emperor of Japan bestowed on
him his country's highest honour for a Foreigner "The Order of the Sacred
Treasure Gold and Silver Star". The Institute of Advanced Studies in Education
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Deemed University (IASE), Rajasthan has already honoured him with a D. Litt
(Honoris Causa) for his contribution to industry and his deep involvement in
social work.
16. JEYSINGH THOMAS - AVT GROUP
Born at Idayankudi near Tirunelveli, Mr. Jeysingh Thomas did his
graduation in the MCC and a post graduation in business in UK. He established
the first commercial plant tissue culture lab in India in 1984. He remained a
role model for budding entrepreneurs in agriculture.
DIVERSE BUSINESSES
Mr. Thomas became the Chairman of AV Thomas group in 1968 after
his father’s demise. Established in 1925, the group is involved in diverse
businesses including tea, coffee, rubber, spices, leather goods, food ingredients
and natural extracts, medical appliances, treated rubber wood, shipping and
warehousing, agency services and plant technology. He employs more than 11,
000 people.
Habib Hussain, one of the executives on the board of A.V. Thomas
Group, said Mr. Jeysingh Thomas had a sharp business mind. He made friends
for life and kept his word.
17. JINDAL, O.P. - JINDAL GROUP
Shri Om Prakash Jindal more popularly known as O.P. Jindal was born
in 1930 to a farmer late Netram Jindal of village Nalwa of district Hisar in
Haryana. Since his childhood the young Jindal had interest in technical work.
He started his industrial career with a small bucket-manufacturing unit in
Hisar. In 1964, he commissioned a Pipe Unit Jindal India Limited, followed by
a large factory in 1969 under the name Jindal Strips Limited.
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At present, there are twenty factories under the flagship of the Jindal
Organization, which are worth over Rs.17, 500 crores, under whose umbrella,
thousands of families directly or indirectly benefit themselves.
O.P. Jindal was the Chairman of the Jindal Organization. In 2004, Jindal
was conferred the prestigious "Life Time Achievement Award" for his
outstanding contribution to the Indian Steel Industry by the Bengal Chamber of
Commerce & Industry. According to the latest Forbes' List, O.P. Jindal has
been ranked 13th amongst the richest Indians of the country and placed 548th
amongst the richest persons of the world.
His life's mission was to help others particularly the common man in
every possible way. Shri Jindal was known for his unassuming generosity and
donates crores of rupees annually not only to known but also to needy
strangers. Numerous social and religious institution of India also received
liberal donations from Shri Jindal for noble causes.
Jindal's philosophy was that without the upliftment of weaker and
backward sections of society our dream of being a leading nation of the world
shall remain unfulfilled. To realize this conviction he was motivated into
politics. Like industry in politics too, he had a successful story to tell. He
received tremendous support and co-operation of the people and became a
Member of the Haryana Legislative Assembly in 1991. In 1996, he was elected
as a Member of Parliament in the 11th Lok Sabha from the Kurukshetra
Parliamentary Constituency of Haryana with a landslide victory.
The life journey of Jindal from a farmer's son to a successful
industrialist, a philanthropist, a politician and a leader would serve as a great
source of inspiration for generations to come.
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18. JOHN YESUDHAS, V.F. – WAVETEL
Yesudhas began his career as a marketing executive in 1998 with a
salary of Rs.3500. In 2000, he decided to freelance as a dealer. With the
money he made, he started a shop in a tiny 250 sq. ft. space in Plaza Centre,
Chennai. Thus was born Wavetel – in rather humble surroundings.
Today, in a decade, Wavetel is the number one retailer of mobile phones
in South India. At the beginning of 2008, Wavetel had eight branches. Then in
August 2009 – Wavetel had 23 outlets – 22 in Chennai and one in Chengelpet,
near Chennai. Wavetel created two records – the first by clinching the highest
number of phones sold on an opening day at their Valsaravakkam branch, in
Chennai. They sold 367 phones that day, which is a national record. The
second is their exclusive mobile retail shop in Chengelpet. It is the largest
individual telecom store in the country, spread over a space of 3400 sq. ft.
Wavetelmobile.com, the brand’s website is hugely popular among
customers. The website gets an astounding 80, 000 hits a day. Another web-
based initiative by John is wavetelsms.com. It is one of the few websites which
gives customers the option of sending unlimited free sms-es. Today the
company employs approximately 300 people and their turnover has been
increasing steadily. John has ambitious plans for the brand saying, “We are in
the process of talks with foreign investors for equity investment to go national.
We are looking towards having a pan Indian presence.”
John is understandably proud of brand Wavetel – after all, from being a
small player in the market, today it is a brand to contend with in the south.
Wavetel also bagged South India’s Number One Retailer Award for the 2008 -
09 financial year. Riding the crest of success, John and Wavetel are surfing to a
bigger and brighter future.
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19. KALLAM ANJI REDDY - DR REDDY'S LABS
Achievements: Founder Chairman of Dr. Reddy’s Group of
Companies, awarded with the Padmashri in 2001, Dr. K. Anji Reddy is a
pioneer in pharmaceutical research in India. Dr. Reddy served in the PSU
Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited from 1969 to 1975. He was the
founder-Managing Director of Uniloids Ltd., from 1976 to 1980 and Standard
Organics Ltd., from 1980 to 1984. Dr. Reddy is a serving member of the Prime
Minister’s Council on Trade & Commerce, Government of India, and has been
nominated to the Board of National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and
Research.
Kallam Anji Reddy is an Indian entrepreneur in the pharmaceutical
industry, the founder of Dr Reddy's Labs. He spent his early years in the
village of Tadepalli in Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, where his father grew
turmeric. Reddy graduated from the local high school and went on to get his
first Bachelor of Science degree from A.C. College at Guntur in 1958.
Dr. Reddy holds a B.Sc.-Tech in Pharmaceuticals and Fine Chemicals from
Bombay University and a Ph.D., in chemical engineering from the National
Chemical Laboratory, Pune.
It was the first company to take up drug discovery research in India. In
2001Dr. Reddy’s Labs became the first Asian pharmaceutical company outside
Japan to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The company has
revenues of $ 546 million is India’s second largest pharmaceutical company.
Dr. Reddy is also a philanthropist. He is the founder-Chairman of
Dr. Reddy’s Foundation for Human & Social Development, a social arm of
Dr. Reddy’s, which acts as a catalyst of change to achieve sustainable
development.
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20. KARSANBHAI PATEL – NIRMA
Dr. Karsanbhai Khodidas Patel born in 1945, in Gujarat, is an Indian
industrialist, founder of the Rs.2500 crore Nirma group with major interests in
detergents, soaps and cosmetics. He has interests in education, and founded a
leading engineering college, the Nirma Institute of Technology. He is
sometimes referred to as Dr. K.K. Patel.
LIFE
Born into a farmer family from north Gujarat, Karsanbhai finished his
B.Sc. in Chemistry at age 21 and worked as a lab technician, first in the New
Cotton Mills, Ahmedabad, of the Lalbhai group and then at the Geology and
Mining Department of the state Government. In 1969, Karsanbhai set up
Nirma, (named after daughter Nirupama) selling detergent powder. This was
an after-office business - the one-man company would bicycle through the
neighbourhoods selling handmade detergent packets door to door. At a price of
Rs.3 per kg, (one third the price of leading detergents), it was an instant
success.
After three years, Karsanbhai felt confident enough to quit his job. Later
he said: the lack of any such precedent in my family made the venture fraught
with fear of failure. But farmers from North Gujarat are known for their spirit
of enterprise. Karsanbhai set up shop at small workshop in an Ahmedabad
suburb. The Nirma brand quickly established itself in Gujarat and Maharashtra.
The high quality and low price of the detergent made for great value.
Fueled by housewife-friendly advertisement jingles, Nirma revolutionized the
detergent market, creating an entirely new segment for economy detergent
powder. At the time, detergent and soap manufacture was dominated by
multinational corporations with products like Surf by Hindustan Lever, priced
around Rs.13 per kg. Within a decade, Nirma was the largest selling detergent
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in India. Since production was labour intensive, Nirma also became a leading
employer. Made without some phosphates, Nirma was also somewhat more
environment friendly.
After establishing its leadership in economy-priced detergents, Nirma
entered the premium segment, launching toilet soaps Nirma bath and Nirma
beauty soap, and premium detergent Super Nirma detergent. Ventures into
shampoo and toothpaste were not successful, but the edible salt Shudh is doing
well. Nirma beauty soap is one of the leading toilet soaps, behind Lifebuoy and
Lux. Overall Nirma has a 20% market share in soap cakes and about 35% in
detergents. Nirma also has successful operations in neighbouring countries.
In 1995, Karsanbhai started the Nirma Institute of Technology in
Ahmedabad, which grew into a leading engineering college in Gujarat. An
Institute of Management followed, with the entire structure being consolidated
under the Nirma University of Science and Technology in 2003, overseen by
the Nirma Education and Research Foundation. The Nirma labs education
project, aimed at training and incubating entrepreneurs, was launched 2004.
Karsanbhai's two sons and son-in-law are now at leading positions in
the Nirma organization: Rakesh K Patel (MBA) looks after procurement and
logistics, Hiren K Patel, chemical engineer and MBA, heads marketing and
finance, while Kalpesh Patel is in human resources.
AWARDS
In 2001, Karsanbhai was awarded an honorary doctorate by Florida
Atlantic University, recognizing his exceptional entrepreneurial and
philanthropic accomplishments.
In 1990, the Federation of Association of Small Scale Industries of India
(FASII), New Delhi, awarded him the 'Udyog Ratna' award. The Gujarat
Chamber of Commerce felicitated him as an 'Outstanding Industrialist of the
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Eighties'. He has served twice as Chairman of the Development Council for
Oils, Soaps and Detergents.
21. KIRAN MAZUMDAR-SHAW - BIOCON LTD
Achievements: Chairman & Managing Director of Biocon Ltd., India’s
largest biotechnology company. In 2004, she became India’s richest woman.
Kiran Mazumdar was born in Bangalore. She did her schooling at Bishop
Cotton Girls School and Mount Carmel College at Bangalore.
After completing her B.Sc in Zoology from Bangalore University in
1973, she went to Ballarat University in Melbourne, Australia and qualified as
master brewer in 1974. Her professional career kick-started immediately and
she joined Carlton and United Beverages as a trainee brewer. Four years later
she changed tracks to join the Irish company Biocon Bio-chemicals Limited as
a Trainee Manager. Not quite content with being just an employee, the same
year Mazumdar Shaw took the bold step of founding Biocon India in
collaboration with the parent company Biocon Bio-chemicals. In retrospect,
calling it a bold step seems to be an understatement as her capital investment
was a paltry Rs.10, 000. Banks were hesitant to give loans to her as
biotechnology was a totally new field at that point of time and she was a
woman entrepreneur, which was a rare phenomenon.
HER DETERMINATION
Her initial operations included developing a process to extract papain,
an enzyme from papaya. This fermentation process made way to develop
processes for many other industrial enzymes. By 1990, Biocon India became
proficient enough to start an in-house research programme, in solid substrate
fermentation technology, which allowed it to produce enzymes from pilot to
plant level. Mazumdar Shaw, however, was not satisfied. The visionary in her
saw that Biocon had potential to enter the field of biopharmaceuticals. She,
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thus, initiated strategic research programs. In 1994, Biocon established
Syngene International Private Limited as a Custom Research Company (CRC)
under the stewardship of Kiran Mazumdar Shaw. In 2000, Biocon established
Clinigene, India's first Clinical Research Organisation (CRO).
Today, Biocon is recognized as India’s pioneering biotech enterprise. In
2004, Biocon came up with an IPO and the issue was over-subscribed by over
30 times. Post-IPO, Kiron Mazumdar held close to 40% of the stock of the
company and was regarded as India’s richest woman with an estimated worth
of Rs.2,100 crore. She is a much sought after biotech pioneer who has been
referred to as "India's Biotech Queen" by The Economist and "India's mother
of invention" by New York Times.
Besides her hectic professional life, Mazumdar Shaw has also penned a
coffee table book titled 'Ale and Arty'. She has made sure that Biocon has an
active corporate social responsibility and is active in the field of public health
and education. She also heads the Vision Group on Biotechnology for the state
of Karnataka and was instrumental in making Bangalore a ‘Biotech Hub’.
WINNER TAKES IT ALL
It is difficult to ignore such achievements, and Mazumdar Shaw’s
efforts have been duly acknowledged. She has been the recipient of several
awards over the years. These include ET Businesswoman of the Year, Best
Woman Entrepreneur, Model Employer, Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the
Year award for Life Sciences & Health Care in 2002, Leading Exporter,
Outstanding Citizen, Technology Pioneer, the Lifetime Achievement Award
from the Indian Chamber of Commerce in 2005, and the Wharton Infosys
Business Transformation Award in 2006. The Government of India conferred
her with Padmashri (1989) and Padma Bhushan (2005). But the award she
values the most is the MV Memorial, one named after the great engineer and
visionary Sir M. Vishweshwariah.
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22. KISHORE BIYANI – PANTALOON
Kishore Biyani is the Chairman of the Company. He is a commerce
graduate with a post-graduate diploma in marketing management. He has over
25 years of experience in the field of manufacturing and retailing of ready-
made garments. Over the years, he has led the emergence of Pantaloons Retail
as the leading retailer in the country. He has received several awards including
the 'CEO of the Year - 2001', 'the most Admired Retailer of the Year 2004', the
'Retail Face of the Year - Images Retail Awards 2005' and the 'E&Y
Entrepreneur of the Year Services 2006'.
Pantaloon's Kishore Biyani has become India's largest retailer, but still
has several aces up his John Miller shirtsleeves. And now that he has set
himself the task of retaining control of the largest retail space in the country, he
would not let anyone - suppliers or international promoters included - catch
him slacking.
Unlike most people, Kishore Biyani makes no bones about his
simplicity. He believes in taking quick decisions. The deal with Bennett,
Coleman & Co was done in seven days flat. He has never met V. Banga of
Unilever in his life, and leaves the task of relationship building to his
managers. Biyani has not always played in the big league. Having quit the
family business, which supplied denim to Arvind Mills, in 1987, he collected
Rs.7 lakh and set up a small plant that produced 200 trousers a day.
In the crowded market of ready-mades, Biyani learned his first lesson -
to be heard, you need to shout louder than the rest. As a result, though the
turnover for his Bare brand was only Rs.7 lakh in the first year, he spent Rs.16
lakh advertising it. He also added John Miller shirts to his portfolio. This year,
Pantaloon will spend Rs.85 crore advertising its various store formats.
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The shift from manufacturing to retail was the critical point in Biyani's
career. Distribution costs were the reason brands were snuffed out in the
market, so Biyani decided to rewrite the rules of the game. In 1993, he
experimented with a small store format, and Pantaloon Shoppe was launched in
Panjim, Goa, "where we could make mistakes without anyone noticing them".
From the shoppe to the large store format in 1998 - this time in Kolkata
("If you can conquer Kolkata, you can conquer other markets too. Calcuttans,
contrary to perception, have money and are loyal customers. They are
emotional people and get emotionally attached to a brand.") - was a carefully
crafted plot. And he was proved right when the Kolkata Pantaloon store
became a raging success and Biyani stepped on to the turf as a super retailer.
Other professionals have wondered where Biyani picked up the tricks of
the retailing trade. Some he learned from his own mistakes, he admits. Others
he picked up from the big boys of international retail. Biyani was not above
picking up the gauntlet and launched Big Bazaar, a hypermarket in Mumbai as
a gamble; financing it mostly through a loan. To India's surprise, the format
worked and the rest is history. He goes personally to people's homes, talks to
local community leaders and spends weeks walking streets of bazaars to get a
feel of what products should be stacked in a new store.
The year 2004-05 has been eventful for Pantaloon Retail as it crossed
the Rs 1,000-crore target. But there have been other watershed years, such as
1997 when it launched its first departmental store, Pantaloons, in Kolkata and
2002, when it opened its first departmental store, Big Bazaar. Today,
Pantaloon is poised to don a new look with a new corporate identity. From the
`Knowledge Group,' it will be now known as the `Future Group' with a new
logo (a human palm print) with the message `India tomorrow.'
The Rs.1,100-crore retail company has been moving at a scorching pace
straddling almost all possible segments in retail (fashion, food, general
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merchandising, home, leisure, entertainment, finance, beauty, wellness and
e-tailing), exploring new areas and formats. His passion is ‘observing’ and he
enjoys watching Hindi drama and cinema. He is a compulsive reader.
23. KOCHOUSEPH CHITTILAPPILLY -V GUARD
Kochouseph Chittilappilly: “I started my business 30 years back at very
small level with only two workers. At that time when I was working as a
supervisor my ambition was to earn more so I started a small industry. Slowly
and steadily the industry started growing but I believe the main reason was the
quality of products for our growth story.”
Aged 56 years, is a post graduate in Physics from Calicut University. He
started his career as a Supervisor in an electronics company, where he worked
for three years. In the year 1977, he started a SSI Unit engaged in the
manufacturing and selling of electronic voltage stabilizers.
He is one of the founder promoters and has motivated the company to
succeed in its business. He has been the Managing Director of the company
since its inception and has taken the company to its current levels of stature
and recognition with his experience and vision. He is the recipient of numerous
awards, which were bestowed on him for his exemplary performance in
business. Among them are Business Man of the Millennium 2000 from Rashtra
Deepika, Tourism Man of the year from Destination Kerala and Samman
Pathra Award for top income tax payer from Honourable Union Minister of
State for Finance. As the Managing Director, Mr. Kochouseph has been the
main driving force behind the company’s sustained growth. Finding capital
was difficult; banks were not impressed by his proposal, and refused to fund
him. Nevertheless, in 1977 an undeterred Chittilappilly ventured into stabiliser
manufacturing with an investment of one lakh rupees that his father gave him.
With just two employees, all that he could make were two stabilisers a day.
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Today, Chittilappilly is one of the most successful businessmen in
Kerala. His Rs.165-crore V-Guard group is a household name in the state, with
its flagship stabilisers and a host of products such as water pumps, water
heaters, UPS, wiring cables and starters. V-Guard employs more than 4,000
people directly and indirectly. The group includes V-Star creations, makers of
apparel ranging from designer churidars to lingerie, and the Veega Land
amusement park.
“I believe that the achievements of V-Guard group are not entirely due
to my abilities. I realise that our managers, staff and other associates have
played a major role in bringing V-Guard to this level,” he says. No wonder he
has set apart four percent of the equity for his 700-odd employees.
24. MOHAN SINGH OBEROI - OBEROI GROUP
Achievements: Founder of the Oberoi Group of Hotels; honoured with
the Padma Bhushan in 2001. M.S. Oberoi can be aptly termed as the father of
the Indian hotel industry.
M.S.Oberoi was born in 1898, in the erstwhile undivided Punjab, now
in Pakistan. He did his early schooling in Rawalpindi and completed his
graduation from Lahore. In 1922, to escape the epidemic of plague, he came to
Shimla, and got a job of a front desk clerk at the Cecil hotel at a salary of Rs.50
per month. He was a quick learner and shouldered many additional
responsibilities along with the job of desk clerk. Hs diligence prompted Mr.
Clarke to request Oberoi to assist him when he acquired Clarke’s hotel, where
he gained first hand experience in all aspects of hotel operations.
In 1934, M.S.Oberoi acquired the Clarke’s Hotel from his mentor, by
mortgaging his wife’s jewellery and all his assets. In 1938, he signed a lease to
takeover operations of the five hundred rooms of Grand Hotel in Calcutta,
which was up for sale following a cholera epidemic. In 1943, M.S.Oberoi
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acquired the controlling interest in the Associated Hotels of India which owned
the Cecil, and Corstophans in Shimla, and the Maidens and the Imperial in
Delhi, and a hotel in Lahore, Murree, Rawalpindi and Peshawar. He thus
became the first Indian to run the largest and the finest hotel chain.
In 1959, the Oberoi group became the first group to start flight catering
operations in India. In 1965, M.S.Oberoi opened the first modern five star
international hotel in the country, the Oberoi Intercontinental, in Delhi. In
1966, he established the prestigious Oberoi School of Hotel Management,
recognized by the International Hotel Association in Paris. The Oberoi group
opened the 35 storey International Sheraton in Mumbai. Oberoi was the first to
employ women in the hospitality sector. Today, the Oberoi group owns or
manages 37 luxury and first class international hotels in seven countries. M.S.
Oberoi was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1962 and in 1972. He was also
elected to the Lok Sabha in 1968.
He was the recipient of many awards and honours. In 1943, he was
conferred the title of Rai Bahadur by the British Government. Other honours
include admission to the Hall of Fame by the American Society of Travel
Agents; Man of the World by the International Hotel Association, New York;
named by Newsweek as one of the “Elite Winners of 1978” and the PHDCCI
Millennium award in 2000. M.S.Oberoi was honoured with the Padma
Bhushan in 2001.
It is not often acknowledged that M.S.Oberoi, Chairman of an empire of
29 hotels spanning most of the world’s landmass is also the man who
pioneered India as a brand, way back when it was only a bazaar of begging
bowls and exotica. At 90, he looked back in something close to awe and said,
“I often wonder how I did it.”
Life served his lemons regularly but with even greater regularity did the
Rai Bahadur make lemonade.
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The story of the Rai Bahadur is all the more impressive because there
was nothing in his background to suggest that he would be able to create the
world class ambience and sophistication for which the group is celebrated now
that he would be able to foresee India’s current positioning in the global
market, while doffing a deferential hat to history when it was demanded.
25. NARAYANA MURTHY, N. R. – INFOSYS
Achievements: One of the founders of Infosys Technologies Ltd.,
chosen as the World Entrepreneur of the Year in 2003 by Ernst & Young,
Narayana Murthy is the Non- Executive Chairman and Chief Mentor of
Infosys Technologies Ltd. He is a living legend and an epitome of the fact that
honesty, transparency, and moral integrity are not at variance with business
acumen. He set new standards in corporate governance and morality when he
stepped down as the Executive Chairman of Infosys at the age of 60.
Born in 1946, N.R. Narayana Murthy is B.E. in Electrical Engineering
from the University of Mysore and M. Tech from IIT Kanpur. He began his
career with Patni Computer Systems in Pune. In 1981, he founded Infosys with
six other software professionals. In 1987, Infosys opened its first international
office in USA.
With the liberalization of the Indian economy in 1990s, Infosys grew
rapidly. In 1993, the company came up with its IPO. In 1995, Infosys set up
development centres across cities in India and in 1996 it set up its first office in
Europe in Milton Keynes, UK. In 1999, Infosys became the first company to
be listed on NASDAQ. Today, Infosys has a turn over of more than $2 billion
and has an employee strength of over 50, 000. In 2002, Infosys was rated No.1
in the Best Employers in India 2002 survey conducted by Hewitt and in the
Business World’s survey of India’s Most Respected Company conducted in the
same year.
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He has received many honours and awards. In June 2000, the Asia week
magazine featured him in a list of Asia’s 50 Most Powerful People. In 2001,
Narayana Murthy was named by TIME/CNN as one of the 25 most influential
global executives. He was the first recipient of the Indo-French Forum Medal
and was voted the World Entrepreneur of the Year 2003 by Ernst & Young.
The Economist ranked Narayana Murthy as eighth on the list of the 15 most
admired global leaders (2005) and he also topped the Economic Times
Corporate Dossier list of India’s most powerful CEOs for two consecutive
years - 2004 and 2005.
As founder Chairman and CEO of Infosys Technologies, he heads the
country’s successful Silicon Valley- style start up, one that is right at the
forefront of India’s charge on the global software market. With 4800
employees, 11 software development centers in India and 13 overseas offices,
Infosys is a world class act, deriving 97 % of its revenues from exports.
In the past five years Infosys has grown at breath taking speed: sales
grew at a compounded annual rate 74 per cent and profits by 78 per cent, a
performance that puts Infosys way ahead of its peers. It created history by
becoming the first Indian registered company to list on an American stock
exchange-NASDAQ–with an issue of two million American Depository Shares
that raised $ 70 million. Infosys pioneering step has paved the way for other
Indian IT companies.
At Patni Computer Systems (PCS), Mumbai-based company, as head of
software, he recruited six professionals who were to eventually partner him in
his first experiment of creating wealth namely Nilekani, S. Gopalkrishnan,
Ashok Arora, N.S. Raghavan, K. Dinesh and S. Shibulal.
When he mooted the idea of creating a software supplier leveraging
Indian skills and aimed at overseas markets, they readily bought into the
concept. Infosys Consultants was formed in July 1981 with the pooled savings
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of the seven partners of Rs.10, 000/- mostly borrowed from their wives.
Murthy’s HDFC- financed Shivajinagar apartment in Pune was the first
registered office.
A chance encounter on a plane with K.S.N. Murthy of KSIIDC brought
Murthy to Bangalore and within a fortnight Infosys had the money–Rs.52 Lakh
to buy its first computer. According to Murthy, the big breakthrough for
Infosys came with economic liberalization after 1991. The Company’s
turnover, a mere Rs.5 crore then, grew 100 folds since.
26. NARESH GOYAL - JET AIRWAYS
Achievements: Founder Chairman of Jet Airways; recipient of the first
MB Munjal award for Excellence in Learning & Development in the private
sector category in 2006. He also figures in the Forbes list of Indian
billionaires.
Naresh Goyal completed his graduation in Commerce in 1967. Goyal
started working in the airline industry right after college in his great uncle's
marketing agency for Lebanese International Airlines. His salary was so low --
$40 per month -- that he had to sleep on the floor of his office. But he moved
up the ranks quickly, becoming a publicist for the airline and from there,
moving on to other international airlines. From 1967 to 1974, he learnt the
intricacies of the travel business through his association with several foreign
airlines.
In 1974, Naresh Goyal founded Jet Air Pvt. Ltd., to look after the Sales
and Marketing operations of foreign airlines of India. His mother sold her own
jewelry to give him money to start the business. He was involved in developing
studies of traffic patterns, route structures, and operational economics and
flight scheduling. His rich and varied experience made him an authority in the
world of aviation and travel.
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In 1991, when the government opened the airline industry to private
competition, Goyal jumped at the opportunity. Naresh Goyal took advantage of
the Open Sky Policy of the Government of India and set up Jet Airways for the
operation of scheduled air services in the domestic sector in India. Jet Airways
started commercial operations in 1993. In 2005, Jet Airways came up with an
IPO and it was a huge success.
Today, the net worth of the Jet Airways promoter is over Rs.8, 100
crore, which makes him the sixth richest Indian as per the Business Standard
Billionaire Club.
Goyal, however, has not forgotten his humble past, a reason why he
remains modest and avoids the limelight. For e.g. minutes after announcing his
decision to buy Air Sahara for Rs.2,225 crore - a deal, which gives him control
over almost half of India's domestic aviation airspace - Goyal refuses to give it
much importance and said, "It's no big deal. I am neither happy nor excited.
Such acquisitions have been the way of life in the west."
The modesty has been interpreted in many ways. While his associates
say it shows that the man has his feet firmly on the ground, others say it's his
way of avoiding controversies. He has been doing precisely that ever since he
got into the civil aviation industry 36 years back. He also has clear ideas about
which way to go. For example, he thinks low cost airlines are just a myth in
India.
Along with Jet’s meteorite rise, Naresh Goyal also rose in the
entrepreneurial arena. He has won several honours and accolades. These
include Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Services from Ernst & Young in
2000, Distinguished Alumni Award-2000 for meritorious and distinguished
performance as an Entrepreneur, Outstanding Asian-Indian award for
leadership and contribution to the global community given by the Indian
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American Centre for Political Awareness, Aerospace Laurels for outstanding
contribution in the field of Commercial Air Transport twice, in 2000 and 2004.
27. DR. PRATAP C REDDY - APOLLO HOSPITAL GROUP
Dr. Pratap C Reddy is a doctor and a businessperson credited with
establishing the first chain of corporate hospitals in India-the Apollo Hospitals
Group. He currently holds the post of Executive Chairman in the group.
Dr. Reddy is a cardiologist with international experience. He worked at the
Missouri State Hospital, U.S.A. where he also had the distinction of heading
multiple research programmes.
Apollo Hospitals is one of the most famous chain based hospitals in
India. It is the largest health care provider in Asia and third largest in the
world. It has hospitals in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh and has presence in
gulf countries as well. Dr. Reddy has been successful in attracting the cream of
Indian doctors from developed countries like the US and UK. For his efforts,
Apollo Hospital is recognized as one of the finest in the world – at par with the
hospitals in the First World countries. Initially there were lot of constraints, but
that did not stop Dr. Reddy from pursuing his entrepreneurial dreams. In 1983,
he set up the first centre in Chennai and then it followed by setting up of a
consultancy body, The Indian Hospital Corporation. He then commissioned
two more care centres in India. This set up a trend for other corporate health
cares in India. From then onwards, it was an upswing for the Apollo group. It
presently has over 22 centres in major metros in India and has a combined turn
over of 100 million dollars.
He started on his mission for providing quality health care in India in
the eighties. It is believed that he was spurred by his failure to provide critical
care to a patient in the U.S. The patient died as a result. This incident prompted
him to start world-class affordable health care facilities in India.
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Apollo Hospitals proved that Indian doctors are no less than the best in
the world by successfully operating on a complicated cadaver transplant.
Having successfully steered Apollo hospitals in a number of locations through
out India, Dr. Reddy went on to expand operations throughout Asia. His more
recent initiative is to create a virtual Apollo centre, which is available
anywhere, at any time. This is a web based Apollo initiative. He successfully
implemented Telemedicine Technology in India which will be a key enabler in
transforming health care delivery in India.
The Apollo Group opened its first clinic in Dubai in 1999. He also has
plans for SAARC countries. He has plans for opening secondary health centers
in India. His new projects include 'Med-varsity'-a virtual medical university
providing total access to medical experts and 'MEDNET'-a hospital systems
management package. Dr. Reddy has many more dreams like setting up rural
hospitals. He recognized 23 sites in the semi urban areas. He started a clinic in
his native village to serve as a model for similar such projects for the Apollo
group to emulate throughout India. Dr. Reddy was awarded the Padma
Bhushan in 1991.
28. RAMNATH GOENKA - INDIAN EXPRESS GROUP
Ramnath Goenka was born in 1904 in Darbhanga district of Bihar. He
belonged to a Marwari business family. He completed his primary education in
Varanasi. At the age of 15, he came to Chennai to learn the ropes of the
business by venturing into the trade of yarn and jute.
At the age of 22, he was nominated as the member of Madras
Legislative Council by the British Government. He founded the Indian Express
in 1936, and in 1941, he was elected President of the National Newspaper
Editors’ Conference.
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In 1948, Daily Tej partnered with Ramnath Goenka to publish Indian
News Chronicle, English daily, from New Delhi. He published several
revolutionary articles in The Indian Express. In 1948 he published an English
daily named Indian News Chronicle along with his friend Lala Deshbandhu
Gupta. Ramnath Goenka merged Indian News Chronicle with The Indian
Express after the death of Lala Deshbandhu Gupta.
During emergency he raised his voice against Indira Gandhi. He was
against the congress till his death. Ramnath Goenka was close to Janatha party
and helped the party in drafting election strategy. Ramnath Goenka died in
Mumbai after prolonged illness in 1991.
29. RAMOJI RAO – RAMOJI CITY
Cherukuri Ramoji Rao, better known as Ramoji Rao, is an Indian
businessman and media entrepreneur. He is head of the Ramoji Group which
owns, among other things, the world's largest film production facility, Ramoji
Film City. Rao Cherukuri was born in Gudivada, Krishna District, Andhra
Pradesh, into an agricultural family. Some of the companies owned by the
Ramoji group include Margadarsi Chit Fund, Eenadu newspaper, ETV, Priya
Foods, Usha Kiron Movies and as mentioned above, the Ramoji Film City near
Hyderabad. He is also the Chairman of Dolphin group of hotels in Andhra
Pradesh.
Spread across 2,000 acres, the Ramoji Film City is the biggest of its
kind in the world. The Film City where you can get ''everything from a pin to
an aeroplane’’ is Ramoji Rao's biggest project till date and is being developed
as the 'Disneyland' of India. He visualizes it as the ''gateway of tourism in
India''.
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30. RANGANATHAN, C. K. - CAVINKARE
C K Ranganathan, Chairman and Managing Director of CavinKare, has
shown the world it is possible to beat the multinationals even in the most
difficult market of fast moving consumer goods. Ranganathan's journey, which
started from a small town of Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu, has been an amazing
one. A business which he started with only with Rs.15, 000 is now worth
Rs.500 crore. He learnt the first entrepreneurial lessons from his father, Chinni
Krishnan, who started a small-scale pharmaceutical packaging unit, before
moving on to manufacture pharmaceutical products and cosmetics.
HIS FATHER, HIS INSPIRATION
His father, Chinni Krishnan, an agriculturist, was also into
pharmaceutical business. When he was in the fifth standard, he had a lot of pets
-- more than 500 pigeons, a lot of fish and a large variety of birds. He used
to earn pocket money out of pet business at that time. Perhaps, the
entrepreneurial spirit in him showed its first streak.
THE ORIGIN OF THE CONCEPT OF SACHETS
His father had come out with the sachet concept, when he entered
college, a couple of years prior to his father’s demise. He felt liquid can be
packed in sachets as well. When talcum powder was only in tin containers, he
was the one who sold it in 100 gm, 50 gm and 20 gm packs. When Epsom
salt came in 100 gm packets, his father brought out salt sachets of as low as
5 gm.
'Whatever I make, I want the coolies and the rickshaw-pullers to use. I
want to make my products affordable to them,' he used to say. Selling things
in sachets was his motto as he said, 'this is going to be the product of the
future.' But his father could not market the concept well. He moved from one
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innovation to another but never thought of marketing strategies. He was a great
innovator, but a poor marketer.
JOINING THE FAMILY BUSINESS
After his father's death, his brothers took charge of the family business.
In 1982, when he joined them after his studies, they had launched Velvette
Shampoo. Within eight to nine months, Ranganathan left the business because
his ideas clashed with theirs. As he was in the manufacturing unit, he did not
know anything about marketing or finance but, his inferiority complex
notwithstanding, he was somehow confident of doing business better.
STARTING HIS OWN BUSINESS WITH RS.15, 000
For a week, Ranganathan could not make up his mind as to
what business to do. He knew only two things; making shampoo and rearing
pets. He did not want to venture into the shampoo business as it would initiate
a fight with his brothers. However, he decided to do the same later as he could
only make shampoo.
He rented a house-cum-office for Rs.250 a month against an advance of
Rs.1, 000. He took another place for the factory for a rent of Rs.300 a month
and against an advance of Rs.1, 200. He bought a shampoo-packing machine
for Rs.3, 000.
HOW CHIK SHAMPOO WAS BORN
Ranganathan named it Chik Shampoo after his father. The product did
not succeed immediately; he learnt many things during the process. In the first
month, he could sell 20,000 sachets and from the second year, started making
profits. He moved to Chennai in 1989 but his manufacturing unit continued to
be in Cuddalore. It took him three years to get the first loan because banks
asked for collateral. But one particular bank gave him a loan of
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Rs.25,000 which he rotated and later upgraded to Rs.400,000, Rs.15 lakh and
so on.
“You know what the bank manager wrote in our loan application? This
person does not have any collateral to offer but there is something interesting
about this SSI unit. Unlike others, this company pays income tax. I must
say my business never looked back because I was very particular about
paying income tax”, he says.
STRATEGIES THAT MADE CHIK SHAMPOO NO. 1 IN SOUTH
INDIA
When Chik entered the market, Velvette Shampoo was being marketed
aggressively by Godrej. But a scheme of his became extremely successful -- he
exchanged five sachets of any shampoo for a Chik Shampoo sachet, free.
Later, he altered the scheme -- he started giving one free Chik Shampoo
sachet in lieu of five Chik Shampoo sachets only. Soon, consumers started
asking for Chik sachets only. The sales went up from Rs.35, 000 to Rs.12 lakh
a month.
When he introduced jasmine and rose fragrances, his sales went up to
Rs.30 lakh per month and with actor Amala as the model, his sales rose to Re.1
crore a month. Each idea of his was rewarded by his customers. His market
share increased and in 1992, he became the numero uno in South India. It took
nine years for him to overtake my brothers' business.
HOW CHIK SHAMPOO CONQUERED THE RURAL MARKET
Multinational companies sold products in big bottles and not in sachets
and they sold only from fancy stores. They did not look at the small kirana
stores, nor did they look at the rural market. Ranganathan went to rural areas of
South India where people hardly used shampoo. He showed them how to use it
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through a live demonstration on a young boy. He asked the assembled to feel
and smell his hair.
Next he planned Chik Shampoo-sponsored shows of Rajnikanth's films.
He showed advertisements in between, followed by live demonstrations. He
also distributed free sachets among the audience after these shows. This
worked wonders in rural Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
After every show, His shampoo sales went up three to four times. Today, the
Indian rural market is growing at a pace double than that of the urban market.
LAUNCHING MEERA HERBAL POWDER
He continued with Chik Shampoo for seven years before venturing into
anything else. Meera Herbal powder was actually not his idea. Shaw Wallace
already had a herbal product but it was marketed very poorly. He felt there was
a demand for herbal products and he made a good product. In the third month
itself, he topped the market. In six months, he had 95 per cent market
share, while Shaw Wallace had only 4-5 per cent.
HOW BEAUTY COSMETICS BECAME CAVINKARE
As he planned to expand to new products, he thought the name Beauty
Cosmetics would be restrictive. In 1998, he ran a contest among his employees
for a name and one of them suggested CavinKare; with C and K spelt in
capitals. C K, his father's initials. Cavin in Tamil means beauty and grace.
PERFUMES FOR THE POOR
He wanted to cater to those who cannot afford (high priced) perfumes.
Good perfumes came at a huge price -- they were beyond the means of
ordinary people. He decided to come out with a Rs.10 pack Spinz. He was
successful in that too.
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Ranganathan has great admiration for those who fight against all odds
and attain success. C. K. Ranganathan, is a successful entrepreneur and venture
philanthropist. He has set an ambitious sales target of Rs.5, 000 crore by 2012.
31. RAO, G.M. - GMR GROUP
G M Rao, a mechanical engineer, is the founder Chairman of GMR
Group-global Infrastructure major. The Group is well diversified and
professionally managed with focus on business verticals of Airports, Energy,
Highways and Urban Infrastructure including SEZs, apart from interests in
Agri-business.
Born in 1950 in a small town of Rajam in the Srikakulam district of
Andhra Pradesh, G M Rao established the GMR business empire starting from
a single jute mill in Rajam in 1978. Within a decade, he successfully
established three green field power plants in the country, one each in the state
of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Under his guidance, the Group
is now developing several power projects in various parts of the country and is
expanding its activities to other countries.
G M Rao expanded the Group’s presence in the infrastructure sector by
leading the Group’s foray into highways. The Group has already completed
two greenfield road projects and four more projects are nearing completion.
G M Rao has today successfully established GMR Group, as one of the
leading infrastructure organisations in the country. Rao was the largest
shareholder in the country’s leading 75-year-old private sector Vysya Bank,
which has been successfully transformed into a modern technology driven and
hugely successful financial enterprise. For his visionary approach and
outstanding contribution to ING Vysya Bank for a period of two decades as its
Director and Chairman, the Bank in September 2006 conferred on him the
status and title of ‘Chairman Emeritus’.
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He was chosen as the ‘Entrepreneur of the year’ at the Economic Times
Awards for Corporate Excellence 2006 – 07. The award has been given to him
in recognition of his exemplary entrepreneurial spirit and potential in breaking
into the big league of top infrastructure organisations in India. He has also been
awarded the ‘Most Promising Entrant to the Big League’ by CNBC TV18 at its
‘Indian Business Leader Awards 2007’.
While a set of seven core values define the GMR Group’s distinct
organization culture, Rao has also spearheaded a “Family Constitution” model
for the group. In line with this, over a period of time, the members of the
family would provide only the strategic inputs and investment needs and
counselling for all the businesses and activities of the Group.
“Most of the people had no idea how to deal with that sudden turn of
events. But GMR decided to take advantage of a new growth area – the power
sector – and soon acquired the licence for a power project in Tamil Nadu, the
Basin Bridge power plant in Chennai, which became the first to be developed
by the group,” says BVN Rao, a long time friend and now chairman of the
energy vertical.
GMR, who cut his entrepreneurial teeth with a jute yarn facility in
Rajam, went on to display his talent in sugar and other agri-businesses, ferro-
alloys, IT and banking before he finally decided to zero in on infrastructure.
Setting up a jute yarn facility taught him a great deal about teamwork and
taking his fellow workers along. His banking experience is what he treasures
the most. “Turning around non-performing assets and building confidence
among customers after a total change in the top management was not easy. We
were dealing with public money,” he says.
GMR, unlike most family-run businesses, has also put in place a
succession plan in the form of a family constitution, which has been revealed
to shareholders as well, to ensure transparency in operations. On criticism
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about the family’s role in his companies, GMR has a confident answer: “It’s
run by family professionals. Almost 70% of the listed companies on BSE are
family-run businesses anyway.”
But even at 61, GMR, has merely written the preface of his
entrepreneurship story, it seems. He is now poised to enter the big league and if
early indications are anything to go by, getting awards too could become a
habit.
32. RAUNAQ SINGH - APOLLO TYRES
Raunaq Singh, a first generation entrepreneur, in his leisure time would
often recount his days after partition and how he built his business empire from
scratch. He along with 13 others had to camp in a single room in Delhi’s Gole
market after partition. A job in a spice shop, Munilal Bajaj & Co, did help him
to somehow survive but could not contain his entrepreneurial instinct.
Born in1922, at Daska in Pakistan, Raunaq Singh learnt the elementary
lessons of business skills while being employed as a salesman of a steel pipes
merchant in Lahore earning Rs.8 a month — a princely amount in those times.
The seeds of entrepreneurship were planted when Raunaq Singh cashed in on
an opportunity thrown up by the dearth of water pipes in the areas around
Lahore. The profits he, thus, earned were ploughed back in the form of setting
up his own business in steel pipes.
Having sold his wife’s jewellery for about Rs.8, 000 in Old Delhi’s
Chandni Chowk in November 1947, Singh went to Calcutta to try his luck.
Singh set up his office at 85, Netaji Subhash Road; first to start spice trade but
later founded Bharat Steel Pipes. The rise of Raunaq Singh is considered in the
corporate world as a rags-to-riches story. He related his pre-independence
enterprise to his friends, in Lahore, how he sold old pipes to a customer for
double its price that too by getting an advance from him. His trademanship
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could be seen in procuring water pipes without investing a single rupee. His
first deal of Rs.1, 000 was the beginning of his fortune in steel pipe trade.
Like any other Indian living in what became Pakistan post-
independence, Singh also faced the brunt. But his resilience helped in re-
building an enterprise. Says Mr. Harish Bhasin, Chairman HB group, “from
selling tubes he dreamt of a tube factory and made it possible. Even when
Apollo Tyres was taken over by the government, he fought tooth and nail and
later he was reinstated in the company.” His corporate friends give credit to his
political connections.
His organizational skills could be seen in shaping three apex
associations, FICCI, Assocham and FIEO, the only person to do so. CII
president Ashok Soota remembers him as “a first generation entrepreneur
committed to the industry association movement in India.”
FICCI recalls Singh’s tenure as president during 1989-90 as year of
transformation for both the Indian economy as well as for the organization.
Even during the early years of economic liberalization when India Inc was
apprehensive of the globalization process, Raunaq Singh commented in his
President’s report: “India of the 90s is ready to face the challenges of change”.
His business rival Mr. Hari Shankar Singhania Chairman, JK Industries,
says: “As a person he was very amiable, full of wit and humour and he would
put many a serious matter into simple earthy language sorting out...
RAUNAQ SINGH, THE CHARISMATIC FIRST GENERATION
ENTREPRENEUR
The noted industrialist, Raunaq Singh, who died at the age of 79
presided over a business empire with a turnover of about Rs.2, 700 crores. A
doyen of the post-partition era of industry, he rose rapidly from being a mere
trader to a corporate giant with his flagship company Apollo Tyres.
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The Apollo group of companies now includes Bharat Gears, Raunaq
International, Raunaq Automotive Components and Menarini Raunaq Pharma
and has over 9,000 employees.
Mr. Raunaq Singh laid the foundation of his tyre manufacturing empire
about 40 years ago and set the stage for India to become a major tyre producer.
As a doyen of the business community in northern India as well as due to his
expertise in the automotive sector, the Government decided to appoint him as
the first Chairman of Maruti Limited. He has also held senior positions in the
Exim Bank, Export Credit Guarantee Corporation and the Indo-German
Consultative Group.
The CII President, Ashok Soota, said with Mr. Singh's passing away,
the country had lost an eminent and charismatic first generation entrepreneur.
Mr. Raunaq Singh represented the first group of post-partition businessmen in
the country. Hailing from an ordinary background and starting as a steel trader,
he went on to establish a group with a turnover of over $525 million.
Raunaq Singh was a powerful figure in corporate India. He was the
former President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, the
PHDCCI, and numerous other trade bodies.
Raunaq Singh’s corporate journey from Lahore to New Delhi, first as a
steel tube merchant, then as a steel tubes manufacturer and finally as the
founder of Apollo Tyres, has been the stuff of corporate folklore.
33. SABEER BHATIA - HOTMAIL
Bhatia intended to get his engineering degree and go home to work. His
mother was a bank manager, and his father, Chief Administrative Officer at
Defense Research Organization. Bhatia grew up, like most Indian kids,
presuming that starting a company is impossible unless you are a superman.
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As a graduate student at Stanford University, Bhatia was drawn to
meetings where he heard entrepreneurs like Sun Microsystems’s Scott
McNealy and Apple’s Steve Wozniak. Bhatia’s impression was that they really
were fairly ordinary intelligent guys. When he graduated, he took a job as a
hardware engineer at Apple Computer. Soon he started attending cocktail
parties of a group of Indian born entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, where he met
many successful older Indian men. And again they seemed like such ordinary
guys.
Bhatia needed $300, 000 to create a working version of the e-mail
programme. He shopped around his business plan and another for a Net-based
personal database to 19 venture capitalists – with no success. Then he met
Steve Jurvetson of Draper Fisher. Jurvetson who was interested but skeptical of
Bhatia’s revenue estimates and dismissed the projections outright, but Bhatia
insisted, “You do not believe we are going to do that?” for their $300, 000
upfront, the firm wanted a 30 percent stake. Bhatia offered 15 percent.
Negotiations seemed to be going nowhere. The next day Jurvetson agreed 15
percent.
Bhatia and his colleague Smith quit their jobs at Apple Computer and
opened a tiny office in Fremont, California. By June, they were running out of
money, but the product would be ready to launch in a month. Another venture
capitalist, Dough Carlisle, was interested in investing, but Bhatia knew that if
he and Smith launched the service first, they would keep more control of the
company they created. He convinced a bank to loan them $100, 000.
In 1996, Bhatia and Smith launched their company, called Hotmail. The
morning of the launch, Bhatia and Smith wore hip beepers, programmed to
flash every hour with the number of new subscribers. The first users found
Hotmail all by themselves, then e-mailed their friends: a hundred users in the
first hour, 200 the next hour, 250 in the third. By the time Sabeer went back to
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Doug Carlisle to say in effect okay. Hotmail had 100, 000 subscribers and a
valuation of $18 million.
Hotmail began to deliver news and other internet content into the e-mail
boxes of its subscribers. This was nothing new, but the way the money flowed
was. The sites supplying the content took the position. “Hey, if you want our
news for free, then you would better pay us.” But Bhatia wanted the sites to
pay Hotmail for the privilege of having its content run. Surprisingly, the
businesses agreed to these terms, and soon Hotmail was growing so fast that
some content providers could not handle the traffic that came in from Hotmail.
Every morning, he scoured the internet for signs of competition. It was six
months before the first appeared.
He had always been concerned that Hotmail could be copied. Microsoft
came biding to buy Hotmail in 1997. Six company executives flew down and
offered Bhatia a figure that would have put tens of millions of dollars in his
pocket. He rejected it; a week later they were back, and every week thereafter
for two months. They asked Bhatia to go over and talk to Bill Gates. After a
tough bargain the deal was stuck worth a walloping $400m. Bhatia remained
the company’s top executive after it became a subdivision of Microsoft’s Web
Essentials. By then Hotmail had 144 employees.
So, is Bhatia lucky or is he great? He refuses to give the credit to
anything other than the culture of the Valley itself: Where two 27 year guys get
$300, 000 from men they had just met. Two 27 year old guys who had no
experience with consumer products, never started a company, never managed
anybody, no experience even in software. All they had was the idea.
In 1999, Sabeer Bhatia quietly left Microsoft to begin a new venture
called Arzoo.com, a web site that brings information technology experts and
corporations together to solve technology related problems on the internet. His
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goal is to create the world’s largest network of human intellectual capital on
the web.
34. SARATH BABU – FOOD KING
Humble beginnings seldom pay. But Sarath Babu will not buy that. For
this young entrepreneur, rags-to-riches is not just another adage. It is his very
first foundation of success. From a slum in Chennai to the top echelons of
academia with an enrolment in chemical engineering at BITS Pilani and IIM-
A, and now as the steward of his Food King Catering business, Sarath has
come a long way. His humility perhaps made him reject several high-brow
offers from MNCs after his MBA. That, in a way, was the genesis of Food
King Catering - with paltry Rs.2, 000 seed money.
Today, his food business spans six locations with a Rs.9-crore turnover
to boot and set to clock Rs.20 crore by year-end. For Sarath, his mother, who
once sold idlis on the pavements of Chennai and worked as an ayah, is a pillar
of strength. “Her sacrifice eggs me on,” says Sarath. Apart from bringing up
four children, Sarath’s mother worked as a cook for the mid-day meal scheme
for 11 years and got paid just a rupee each day.
Having completed SSLC, she moved on to teach under the same scheme
for five years. Even then, her salary was insufficient. So Sarath’s mom sought
refuge in the food business to supplement her meager income. As she rolled
dough in the form of idlis, dosas, bhajjis and appams, it was Sarath’s job to sell
them in the neighbourhood. “For kids living in a slum, idlis for breakfast is
something very special,” says Sarath even to this day.
A natural entrant to the food business with acquired acumen in
childhood, Sarath has trained his sight higher. From the current 250 people,
he’s aiming to recruit 2,000 people by next year, and probably, 5,000 in the
next two years.
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Sarath Babu said, "When I was in my third year at BITS, I organized an
event. My friends thought my management skills were very good and
suggested that I pursue a course in management."
His firm, Food King catering services, was inaugurated at Ahmedabad
by IIM-A Chairman and Chief Mentor of Infosys N.R. Narayanamurthy.
Sarath is all set for a brilliant innings.
Jumping-in to kick start a business right after college should have been
tough. But this bold mindset & compulsion came from his childhood perils.
Initially, his catering business, with two units in Ahmedabad, was Rs.2,
000-per -day in the red. “But I burnt the midnight oil literally to get a
solution,” Sarath says. It’s worth a mention here that Sarath spent most of his
childhood in the dark, without electricity. He focused on volumes rather than
spartan servings, and started taking contracts from institutions and companies.
To bag an order, Sarath even slept on the platform of Mumbai’s railway
station. “That’s one of my finest nights I’ve ever had,” Sarath reminisces.
Today, Food King is targeting 100 clients, including 50 top institutions and 50
corporates for the snacks business — South Indian, North Indian and Chinese
food.
He now envisions Food King’s Palace (food malls) across cities where
all kinds of Indian food would be served at “economical rates”. Is he really
worried about inflation or price-rise in food products? When most of the
restaurants have increased their prices, Sarath sees an opportunity to serve at a
cheaper price. “Sourcing from one place makes a lot of difference. I will tap
this opportunity,” says Sarath. Today, he drives a Chevrolet to take his mother
for a ride to oversee his business units in Chennai. “Next, I want to build a
house for my mother,” says Sarath.
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35. SATHISH BABU, D. – UNIVERCELL
From selling vacuum cleaners as a door to door salesman owning a
business selling mobile telephone sets is quite an impressive advance for a
young man. D. Sathish Babu not only made that transition a decade ago, but he
has firmly established himself as arguably the foremost multi location vendor
of mobile telephones of all sizes and brands in India within a decade of
launching himself in business.
The tag-line of the company he runs reads UniverCell, the Mobile
Expert. Anybody who has every shopped for a mobile phone in this part of the
world known this is no empty boast. Sathish Babu, a mathematics graduate,
began his career as a sales executive with Eureka Forbes where he steadily rose
to the post of regional sales manager during nine year tenure. He left the
company in 1997 to start his own business venture, bitten by the bug to be “my
own boss”.
It was still the early days of the Indian mobile phone retailing. The
industry was highly fragmented and disorganized. Mobile handsets were
expensive, the grey market dominated and there were few showrooms around
to showcase mobile products.
Sathish Babu entered this scene selling postpaid mobile connections as a
Skycell Teleshop. He soon decided he would provide a nice ambience in which
his customers would be able to choose the cell phone instruments they liked in
comfort and served well by intelligent, courteous, efficient salespersons.
Using his savings and some capital from the family, Sathish started
UniverCell in 2000 in Chennai. Since then, Sathish and UniverCell have spun a
success story to be the largest mobile phone retailer and among the better
known brands in India. Statistics are available to show that one out of every
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three handsets sold in the market is from UniverCell. Its customer base stands
at a vast 5 million, with 100,000 people buying its handsets every month.
From a single store with 32 employees in 2000, UniverCell has grown
to 170 stores with over 1350 employees across southern India. The company
continues to be recognized as the top retailer by all major mobile manufactures
and enjoys the best of concessions and incentives.
Sathish Babu has promoted the brand through every available mass
media tool of advertising. Innovative marketing and a consistent presence
across media have been the hallmark of Univercell’s journey as far. Celebrity
endorsement is for instance a big part of its advertising campaigns with film
actor R. Madhavan as its brand ambassador. With effective advertising
campaigns and market promotion, Sathish Babu has made sure that UniverCell
is well entrenched in the hearts and minds of the buying public all over India.
The presence of large retail outlets, print, television, event promotions,
billboards and FM radio broadcast, are constant reminders to customers
existing and prospective keeping in line with the focus of aggressive
expansion, UniverCell has started SIS (Shop in Shop) model stress within
Music World of RPG group.
UniverCell has the distinction of being the first mobile phone retailer to
provide a warranty on every purchase, keeping in mind the stiff competition
the grey market poses. Recently UniverCell launched an exclusive Mobile
Theft and Damage Insurance along with Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. to cover
all risks not covered under the manufacturer’s warranty. It was also the first
mobile retailer to implement the touch and feel concept, besides offering
several exchange offers.
Determined to take UniverCell and mobile phone retailing to the heights
of excellence, Sathish constantly looks to incorporate innovative modern
retailing concepts into his own organization. The series of core improvements
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initiated five years ago has now resulted in a world-class retailing organization
that is powered as much by technology as by its people. The foundation for
growth well in place, UniverCell has its sights on replicating its success Pan
India. These same investments in technology and processes have earned
UniverCell the ISO 9000-2001 certification for quality management systems.
Strong relationships with all the manufacturers, the e-portal @
www.univercell.in and wap.univercell.in, its pan Indian presence, UniverCell
has been able to leverage efficiencies of scale, providing the highest levels of
service and options to consumers. UniverCell presenting a single face to its
customers assures the same level of support (warranties, service, etc) from
every single outlet across the country.
THE ENTREPRENEUR
Sathish and UniverCell have been cresting the wave of the Indian
mobile revolution from the retailing front, growing and evolving to become
India's largest mobile retailer and one of India's best known brands.
Sathish Babu is determined to go places. They are all set of move into
the next phase of expansion. With the Indian cell phone market still quite away
from reaching saturation, Univercell’s future looks bright.
36. SEEMA KAKKAR –REMANIKA
STARTING YEARS
“In 1993, I designed my first label called Rudraksh for Ensemble-Tarun
Tahiliani’s retail chain of stores. It was haute couture for elite class. I got very
encouraging response but fashion was still at a very nascent stage in India-
even rich people of South Mumbai, especially women, were not open to trendy
clothes those days. I use to regularly interact with people on the streets and
realized that youth in suburban pockets such as Bandra and Lokhandwala were
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open to experiment with their clothes but they did not have choices at
affordable prices as designers in India were into haute couture and catering to
high profile individual clients. There was a need gap in the market. That is how
seeds of Remanika were sown. In 1994, I rented out a 100sq ft space in Kemps
Corner in South Mumbai and opened the first Remanika store selling ‘Go-
sexy’- trendy youth wear and club wear for women”, says Seema.
THE INITIAL YEARS
“When I started in 1994, I could not even afford shelves and hangers,
and all the clothes used to be displayed on the floor. I paid rent in the evening
on a daily basis from money generated through day sales. One fine day, with
barely few months into the business, I got notice to vacate the store. The
following one year was very stressful. There were times when I had to sell
clothes on staircases and loft of the mall. I had to sell my car and house to stay
put in the business. After some time I rented another 600 sq ft of space on a
different floor in the same premises. Thankfully, clients repaid my faith and
business grew steadily’ she says.
TURNING POINTS
The first store was opened in 1994 and then the opening of second store
in 1999. In 2000, she started retailing the products through Pantaloon, and later
from Shoppers Stop, K-Lifestyle, and Pyramid stores. She has now 10 self-
owned stores and retails her products through 80 other outlets. The employee
strength is 400 and has grown 100% over the years.
37. SHAHNAZ HUSAIN - SHAHNAZ HUSAIN HERBALS
There are perhaps few others who can stand testimony to the truth of
these words, as Shahnaz Husain, India’s pioneer in herbal cosmetics.
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Credited with single-handedly placing Indian herbals on the world
cosmetic map, her success story-that of young girl from a conservative Muslim
family who rose to become an international trailblazer in the field of herbals- is
by now history.
President of CIDESCO, the first Asian to enter Selfridges in London
and break a 40 year old sales record, GQM Commitment to Quality award,
FICCI’s outstanding woman entrepreneur, US magazine Success’s World’s
Greatest Women Entrepreneur – the list of accolades and achievements is
endless.
An entrepreneur in the truest spirit of the word, the lady has a whopping
80 percent of the domestic herbal market, and sales counters in the best stores
internationally, be it the Seibu chain in Japan, Bloomingdales in the US,
Galeries Lafayette in Paris, Harrods and Selfridges in London … it goes on.
“Though I was married at a very young age, I always knew that I was
made for something more,” begins Shahnaz.
Not prepared to sit back as a housewife and mother the age of 16, the
young Shahnaz set about writing for magazine to earn money so that she could
fund her education. Staying with husband Nasir in Tehran, Shahnaz found the
ideal opportunity in the international beauty schools there. After studying
cosmetic chemistry in international beauty schools in certain centres including
London, Paris and Denmark for close to eight years, Husain hit upon the idea
of exploring the 4000 year old Indian ayurvedic system, so that she could
research and develop herbal cures and treatments.
“I had seen the debilitating effect of synthetic cosmetics abroad; there
was no doubt in my mind that the herbal system would work,” recalls Shahnaz.
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She returned to India to set up shop in one room, with a start up
investment of Rs.35, 000, she borrowed from her father. The going was tough
– Shahnaz had priced her product well above the existing market.
“I began with just one product – Shalife, a massage cream. My facial
were priced at Rs.100, while you get one the market for a paltry Rs.6,”
reminisces Husain. However, that did not stop the crowds from coming in, and
soon, Shahnaz had more clients she could handle.
“I would go to a place for one day, offer free prescriptions and advice,
inaugurate the salon, and go back,” says Shahnaz. It worked – today, there are
more than 600m salons in India and abroad.
The Shahnaz group of companies has acquired a global presence, with
exports to 132 countries including those in the Middle East, South East Asia,
Australia and all over Europe. Recently, the company has been approved by a
Fortune 500 investment company to explore business opportunities.
The strategy was one she applied with great success internationally as
well – at one point, during a makeup demonstration in Russia, Shahnaz was
asked to stop as the floor was caving in under the pressure of the people who
had turned up to watch. Interestingly, Shahnaz has never advertised her
products, a fact that had Harvard in the US wanting to use her marketing
system as a case study.
17 herbal lines, with many more in R&D, Husain is busy expanding her
empire by adding health resorts, signature garments, accessory lines and more
to her portfolio.
38. SHAMIT KHEMKA- SYNAPSE INDIA: the entrepreneur, leader
and achiever
They say, “You must first be a believer, if you want to be an achiever.”
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Shamit Khemka owns one of India’s leading software and web
development outsourcing companies, Synapse Communications Pvt. Ltd. and
Sampatti.com, the much popular online real estate service. He has already
bagged numerous national and international recognitions for being an
emerging young entrepreneur.
He is a man who has proud credentials of being the one to gift India its
first Bulletin Board System with e-mail services. He is also the one to establish
country’s first online real estate database that allows every property buyer and
seeker to enroll their needs and specialties - all for free.
THE FLIGHT… TOWARDS A GOAL SET HIGH
From a computer whiz-kid to become a CEO of a tremendously
progressive MNC, the journey Shamit took was interspersed with challenges.
Just as it is always in ready abundance for the one who has set to move ahead.
While Synapse Communications has grown 10 times (both revenue and
manpower-wise) since its inception in 2002, Sampatti.com, Shamit’s another
creation, has garnered rave reviews from real estate industry specialists and
allied service providers alike for its techno-innovative and effective service
delivery model.
From a standard 30-men company, today, Synapse boasts of over 300
employees - spread in different specialty areas. It ably caters to diversified
business specialties via the arms by the names of Synapse India, Synapse web
solutions, Synapse interactive etc. While its Noida office exemplifies the best
of a state of-the-art infrastructural facility, an upcoming specialty centre at
NEPZ, Greater Noida, is expected to feature futuristic readiness towards
taming every challenge from emerging technological needs.
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SHAMIT – THE MAN OF HIS MEN
Shamit Khemka, the entrepreneur, like all of his successful counterparts,
knows the role of employees in an organization. Talk to any of his employees.
You would immediately get to know hundreds of pro-employee rules and
regulations that they enjoy being in Synapse. Understandably, a job
opportunity in Synapse attracts more applicants in comparison to what a
similar offer from others in the same business promises of.
ON COURSE TO MORE…
In a scenario when in the name of better profits, private sector
companies implement innovative rules to sap employees to the extent of no
return; Mr. Shamit Khemka too implements innovativeness.
He applies it to install a prized balance between business growth and
employee satisfaction. Be it with Synapse India, Synapseco, or any other
extensions of Shamit Khemka’s services to an increasing list of global clients,
he marches on ahead while setting newest standard of professional
commitment. On the course of scaling newer heights with his people, Shamit
proves his taste for integrity by practising a professional culture where
individual growth complements to organizational growth.
BORN LEADER
Someone said, ‘A leader is born, not made.’ May be it is his business
background that has helped him to develop essentials for leading a team of
people and motivate them to work for a common cause.
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SMART THINKER
If his love for information technology and internet inspired him to venture in
the world of IT services at a meagre age of twenty, his ability to smartly handle
a situation is largely responsible for his success today.
39. SHASHI RUIA – ESSAR GROUP
Shashi Ruia is one of India’s foremost entrepreneur industrialists. He is
the co-founder and Chairman of the Essar Group, an organization that in less
than four decades became among the top five Indian companies in each of its
six core businesses.
The Essar Group is a diversified business corporation with a balanced
portfolio of assets in the manufacturing and services sectors of Steel, Energy,
Power, Communications, Shipping Ports & Logistics, Construction and Mining
& Minerals.
When Nand Kishore passed away in 1969, the responsibility of growing
his fledgling business fell on his two sons. Shashi Ruia and brother Ravi
established Essar, a company whose first major project was to build a
breakwater at Chennai port. Over the next four decades, Essar became the
Essar Group. Essar employs more than 50,000 people across offices in Asia,
Africa, Europe and the Americas.
Ably supported by his brother Shashi Ruia led the company into
businesses, like shipping, marine construction, steel, power, telecom, offshore
engineering and oil exploration, which were at one point dominated by
multinationals and public sector units. The brothers, who share a very strong
bond as well as the same office, seized on every available opportunity and
helped Essar pioneer many firsts in Indian corporate history. Essar, for
instance, was the first company to set up a sponge iron plant in the west coast
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of India, the first independent power producer and among the first to introduce
mobile telephony services.
Essar draws strength from the integrated nature of its various businesses
and their collective synergies. Shashi Ruia has been the driving force behind
this integration strategy. Widely regarded as one of the architects of modern
India, he has a passion for education and mentoring young talent. He considers
all employees of Essar a part of his extended family.
Ruia said he himself was 'not an MBA but only an MBB (Marwari by
birth),' but he imbibed the spirit of enterprise from his father who took him
along wherever he went to start a business. The lessons he learnt as an
understudy to his father were productive and helped in building the Essar
Group which now has a strong presence in steel, petrochemicals, telecom,
engineering and construction, he added.
Ruia said that young graduates could draw inspiration from great
entrepreneurs like Dhirbubhai Ambani and Ratan Tata. He said India has the
potential to grow stronger and that it was true China was far ahead especially
in the fields of steel, cement and automobiles.
Collecting jewels of wisdom all along his professional carrier, which
spans in decades, Ruia worked in almost all sectors of business. In fact, Ruia
has not only masterminded the group's business strategy but has also
consolidated a whole range of activities through backward and forward
integration. And the reach of the Group can be gauged from the fact that Essar
Steel Ltd, the flagship company of the Group, encompassed businesses in the
area of ports, harbours, submarine, oil and gas pipelines and installations,
modifications and maintenance of offshore oil field platforms, super deep land
drilling rigs and submarine gas pipeline.
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With total assets of more than $5 billion, and annual revenues of more
than $2.2 billion, Essar Group has become one of India's leading and most
diversified private sector conglomerates.
The Group, under the watchful eyes of Ruia has been able to utilize the
synergy and propel its growth into a large business conglomerate. In fact, after
the successful completion of its multi-crore construction project of Sardar
Sarovar Nigam Ltd (SSNL), Essar is now working on a project for the state
government-owned Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Limited (GSPCL) for
its gas pipeline project. And with Ruia as the guiding star, even scaling sky
will not be a difficult feat for the Essar.
It's no wonder that the Essar Groups under the leadership of Shashi and
his brother Ravi Ruia who is a Vice-Chairman of the company, was ranked
37th in the list of billionaires in the country.
40. SHIV NADAR - HCL
Shiv Nadar has been the only entrepreneur in the last decade, apart from
Azim Premji of Wipro, to successfully manage hardware business and software
ventures. In fact Nadar has successfully straddled the entire spectrum of
Information technology: from hardware, software and services, to training.
The HCL Empire, which spawns from Japan in the east to US in the
west, was conceived in a garage in Noida near New Delhi when Nadar quit his
job with DCM and, armed with Rs.1.5lakh, started making and selling
calculators in 1976. His big break came when he ventured into the hardware
business.
Armed with a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1967, he started work
as a systems analyst at Cooper Engineering and within a year moved out to
DCM as a senior management trainee. The next seven years of his life were
spent uneventfully as he climbed up the ladder and started Data Products
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Division. He was heading until he quit in 1975 and laid the foundation of HCL
group from an attic in Noida.
PREDICTED THE COMPUTER BOOM
People laughed at him when he predicted the future for Information
Technology in the country and the scope it provided to HCL. His
understanding was that sooner or later when the time comes, HCL could cash
on the computer boom in the country. He proved them wrong and had the last
laugh as within a short span of three years HCL was able to develop India’s
first micro processor based commercial computer, HCL-8c.
By this time the HCL team was able to gather in-house expertise for
developing the hardware, controllers, languages, systems software utilities and
even application software for its computers. Finally with the technology jump
in the next four years 8c became a museum piece, HCL was able to step in
with an advanced version, also developed in-house. This symbolized the
galloping pace of changes in the international market and HCL’s nascent
efforts to move along.
Since 1993, he has stopped running companies and confines himself to
once-a-quarter meeting with CEOs. He now heads the group apex body of
HCL Corporation, whose charter is to set standards and create policies in areas
such as new business opportunities, financial and accounting practices, HRD
and corporate communications.
41. SINGH, K.P. – DLF GROUP
Kushal Pal Singh, with a net worth of $35 billion, is the fourth richest
Indian in the world. He heads the DLF Group, India's largest real estate
developer, which has interests in Delhi, Chandigarh, Kolkata, etc.
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In 1960, Singh quit the Indian Army to join the American Universal
Electric Company, a joint venture between Universal Electric Company of
Owosso, Michigan, and Singh's family. Later he established Willard India
Limited along with a Philadelphian company ESB Inc. He joined DLF
Universal Limited as the Managing Director in 1979. Singh's greatest
achievement is that he transformed Gurgaon, a barren village then, into one of
the favourite real estate destinations of India. Today he presides over closely
held DLF Group, India's largest real estate developer with an estimated land
bank of 3,000 acres in prime city locations. Singh, who owns 99.5% of parent
DLF Universal with his family, is worth, at least $5 billion.
His showpiece: a busy, 10-mile-wide township called DLF City in
Gurgaon, situated south of Delhi, in the neighboring state of Haryana. Some
just refer to it as the "new city" or Delhi's tech city. It is a sight to behold. A
barren expanse of farmland has been transformed into a sprawl of office and
residential towers, interspersed with bright, busy malls, monuments to the
country's new found consumerism.
DLF City boasts restaurants, hospitals, schools, hotels and an 18-hole
Arnold Palmer signature golf course. Gurgaon is no longer the back of beyond
but a suburb much sought after by those who cannot afford Delhi's prices or
would rather live closer to where they work. By laying a modern foundation in
a country whose physical plants usually lag its intellectual assets, Singh put
Gurgaon on the map as a destination for global companies. They have flocked
there to situate their Indian headquarters or back offices. If Bangalore is India's
software services capital, Gurgaon is the call center hub. DLF has 100 million
square feet under development in residential, commercial and retail projects all
over the country.
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Pramod Bhasin, President and Chief Executive of leading outsourcing
firm Genpact, calls DLF Corporate Park, the first office tower Singh built in
Gurgaon, "the birthplace of India's business- process outsourcing industry."
Despite these odds, Bhasin never regretted moving. "We got the kind of
space, both in size and quality that just was not available in the center of Delhi.
DLF really understands what companies like ours need. They are quick, and
they deliver on their word," says Bhasin. Once GE took the plunge, DLF
landed other big-name corporate tenants, including Nestle, PepsiCo, British
Airways, American Express, IBM and Ericsson.
At a time when the industry practice was to sell and not lease, DLF
offered long-term leases, which suited companies that did not want to load
assets on their books. DLF benefited from the steady rentals during a market
downturn when property sales stagnated. Singh's refusal to cut quality corners
ensured that DLF could get premium prices for its properties.
Singh's introduction to GE's legendary CEO Welch came in 1989, when
the company was still scoping out India. Singh set up a meeting with then
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Welch's book Jack: Straight from the Gut recalls
that Singh also led him to Azim Premji as GE was looking for a partner for its
medical systems business. Today Premji, by virtue of his building software
power Wipro is one of Asia's richest men.
In an interview Welch recalls, "K.P. was the igniter of the flame for GE
coming to India. He was the perfect ambassador because he opened our eyes to
a great country, and we fell in love with it."
The patriarch scrambled to enter the car battery and electrical motors
field, assigning K.P. Singh to make it work. Young Singh found a mentor in
George Hoddy, founder of Universal Electric in Michigan, a joint-venture
partner. Hoddy, recalls, "K.P. was not afraid to work hard. He followed
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directions very carefully and mastered manufacturing." But the diversification
strategy came a cropper in the Indian market.
Regrouping again, Singh and his father-in-law recommitted themselves
to real estate, vowing to break the state's stranglehold by all lawful means.
Over 15 years Singh assembled the Gurgaon holdings, starting with 40 acres
that his father-in-law still held. The surrounding families had an average
landholding of 4 to 5 acres, with half a dozen relatives sharing the title. To win
their trust, he attended weddings, mediated family disputes, helped out during
illnesses.
Singh's leap of faith in Gurgaon paid off in spades. The average cost of
the 3,000 acres that DLF initially amassed in Gurgaon was $2,000 an acre--a
tiny fraction of today's market value.
"Gurgaon was deserted when K.P. first took me there to see it 25 years
ago. But he had the gumption to go relentlessly after it," says Deepak Parekh,
Chairman of home mortgage company HDFC, which started lending to DLF
early in its expansion drive. Along the way Singh insisted his buyers also be
on the up-and-up. Real estate in India is full of off-the-books transactions, the
better for tax dodges and to avoid once-prohibitive mortgage terms. Also,
builders flout codes and often see their handiwork ripped down.
42. SUBHASH CHANDRA GOYAL - ZEE TV
Achievements: Subhash Chandra is the founder of Zee TV, India’s first
private TV channel. This one time rice trader from Hissar, Haryana, has today
become a media baron and his other interest includes packaging, theme parks,
lotteries, and cinema multiplexes.
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He launched Zee Telefilms Limited in 1992 as a content supplier for
Zee V – India’s first Hindi satellite channel. Before the launch of Zee TV,
viewers in India were under the firm grip of Doordarshan, the state-controlled
terrestrial network.
After the launch of Zee TV, he commenced Siti Cable operations in
1995 and also started a joint venture with News Corporation. In 1995, he
launched two new channels, Zee Cinema and Zee News. In 2000, Zee TV
became the first service provider in India to launch Direct to Home services. In
a short span of time, Zee TV has become a big media and has given tough
competition to international media moghuls such as Rupert Murdoch.
Subhash Chandra Goyal after completing high school, began his
entrepreneurial career as a rice trader in Hissar. He became wealthy by
exporting rice to the Soviet Union. In the 1970s, he entered the packaging
business; his Essel Packaging Company was started by making laminated
covers for the Food Corporation of India, to store surplus agricultural harvests.
Subhash Chandra Goyal invested his profits in land, on which he built
Esselworld, a 753-acre popular amusement park in Mumbai. The next logical
step was Zee-TV. The idea of Zee-TV took shape during the Gulf War, when
Chandra was watching CNN in the office of Ashok Kurien, an advertising
executive who was marketing Esselworld.
Subhash Chandra Goyal launched Zee-TV in an era when many Indians
were eager to obtain news of the Gulf War. The huge audiences attracted by
Zee-TV and by Chandra’s related companies helped boost his net worth to
billions of dollars. However, Zee-TV is only one of the members Subhas
Chandra Goyal’s family of companies, which includes Zee Music, which
markets cassettes; Zee Cinema, a movie pay-channel; Siticable, a cable
television company; Zee Education (ZED), a computer training company; Zee
Multinational Worldwide, a Mauritius-based company; and Zee Telefilms, the
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flagship company that produces the television programming. Subhash Chandra
Goyal has also teamed up with his main competitor in private television
broadcasting, Rupert Murdoch who owns STAR-TV, as part of his News
Corporation. Subhash Chandra Goyal and Murdoch own equal shares in Asia
Today Ltd (ATL), a Hong Kong-based broadcasting company that provides
television programming to various broadcasting stations.
In 2000, the Zee group of companies was positioning itself to tap the
tremendous business opportunity offered by digital communication services in
India. For instance, Subhash Chandra Goyal’s Siticable Company, which he
owns jointly with Rupert Murdoch, is gearing itself to transmit voice, video,
and data for entertainment and e-commerce purposes. Siticable, with six
million subscribers in 2000, eventually becomes the biggest provider of cable
internet services in India. Subhash Chandra Goyal is also launching a $755
million satellite telephony venture called Agrani (Sanskrit for "staying ahead"),
establishing a Zee Internet portal, and building 18 multiplex theater-cum-
entertainment centers, called ‘E-Citi’ in six states in India at a cost of over
$ 100 million. Subhash Chandra Goyal’s vision is to turn his broadcast
software operations into a media, entertainment, and telecommunications
conglomerate.
Subhash Chandra Goyal understands very well the importance of
building a high-quality media conglomerate. The value of Zee’s stock rose by a
drastic 15,000 percent in seven years after the company became public in 1993,
making it the fastest-rising Indian stock of all time. From Oberoi Towers,
Chandra rules the world of laminate packaging, supplying over 1,200 million
laminated tubes annually to the likes of Colgate Palmolive and Hindustan
Lever, and, on the side, beams programs to an audience of over 200 million
people worldwide. Subhash Chandra Goyal with his perfect outlook regarding
Indian business domain has reached a height of immense popularity in his
versatile projects.
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43. SUBRATA ROY – SAHARA GROUP
Subrata Roy Sahara is the Chairman and Managing Worker of the
Sahara Group of companies based in India. Sahara India Pariwar is today the
largest first generation conglomerate of India. The group is successfully
diversified into the fields of Finance, Real Estate, Media & Entertainment,
Tourism & Hospitality, Services & Trading and Consumables. From an asset
base of $ 43 in 1978 when it was founded, the group has today exponentially
grown to become a conglomerate with assets having a market value of more
than Rs.2,15,000 crores.
It owns satellite TV stations, a bank, an airline, 33, 000 acres of real
estate and employs 700,000 people. Its directors are film stars, sporting heroes
and politicians. Sahara India Pariwar is the most famous company you have
never heard of. Its founder is Subrata Roy, the son of a mill worker in the
impoverished state of Bihar in northeast India. With just 2,000 rupees he set up
a savings scheme in 1978 for poor farm workers, visiting his customers door-
to-door on a Lambretta scooter.
Today, Sahara’s Para Banking empire extends to 32 million customers,
many of them making weekly deposits to the bank’s army of workers who visit
doorsteps across the subcontinent. It is the financial backbone of a business
empire said to be worth £7 billion but it is the marketing hoopla and showbiz
that will be the key to selling Sahara to expatriate Indians. And it is all good
publicity for the Sahara developments, satellite towns, shopping malls and
gated luxury leisure complexes catering to India’s burgeoning middle class.
The modest rural savers who entrust their rupees to Sahara’s doorstep bankers
are funding Amby Valley, a lavish complex of swimming pools, hotels and
villas an hour and a half from Bombay, and the Sunderbans project, a floating
city near Calcutta with water sports and a tiger conservation scheme.
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There is an airline, Air Sahara, two satellite TV channels and a weekly
newspaper, Sahara Time. Last year the company announced plans to expand
into life insurance and the ambitions are wider still, to capture the Indian
diaspora in Europe and America and, ultimately, the whole world, in the
welcoming embrace of the Sahara family.
44. SUNIL BHARTI MITTAL -BHARTI GROUP
Sunil Bharti Mittal is an Indian businessman. He is the Chairman and
Managing Director of the Bharti group since 2001. The $5 billion turnover
company runs India's largest GSM-based mobile phone service.
He has built the Bharti group, along with two siblings, into India's
largest mobile phone operator in just ten years. The UK based
telecommunication giant, Vodafone and Singapore's SingTel both own stakes
in the recently renamed flagship company Bharti Airtel. The group also has
partnerships with Axa for insurance and with the Rothschild family for
exporting fruits and vegetables.
ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURES
A first generation entrepreneur, he started his first business in 1976 at
the age of 18, with a capital investment of Rs.20, 000 borrowed from his
father. His first business was to make crankshafts for local bicycle
manufacturers.
In 1980 he sold his bicycle parts and yarn factories and moved to
Mumbai. In 1982 he became the exclusive dealer for Suzuki Motors's portable
electric-power generators imported from Japan. The importing of telecom
equipment was banned by the Indian Government as ITI (Indian Telecom
Industry) monopoly practices and sole OEM for Department of
Telecommunication.
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By 1982, Mittal had started a full-fledged business selling portable
generators imported from Japan and that gave him the chance to involve
himself in activities like marketing and advertising. Things went smoothly
until the government banned the import of generators as two Indian companies
were awarded licenses to manufacture generators locally.
Sunil Mittal got interested in push button phones while on a trip to
Taiwan, and in 1982, introduced the phones to India, replacing the old
fashioned, bulky rotary phones that were in use in the country then. Bharti
Telecom Limited (BTL) was incorporated and entered into a technical tie up
with Siemens AG of Germany for manufacture of electronic push button
phones. By the early 1990s, Mittal was making fax machines, cordless phones
and other telecom gear.
The turning point came in 1992 when the Indian government was
awarding licenses for mobile phone services for the first time. One of the
conditions for the Delhi cellular license was that the bidder has some
experience as a telecom operator. Mittal clinched a deal with the French
telecom group Vivendi. Two years later, Sunil secured rights to serve New
Delhi. In 1995, Bharti Cellular Limited (BCL) was formed to offer cellular
services under the brand name AirTel. Within a few years Bharti became the
first telecom company to cross the 2-million mobile subscriber mark. The
company is also instrumental in bringing down the high STD/ISD, cellular
rates in the country by rolling the countries first private national as well as
international long-distance service under the brand name IndiaOne. In 2001,
the company entered into a joint venture with Singapore Telecom International
for a $650-million submarine cable project, the countries first ever undersea
cable link connecting Chennai in India and Singapore.
Mittal has to his credit the breaking up of the 100 year old monopoly of
state run companies to operate telecom services in India. Now he heads a
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successful empire focused on different areas of business through independent
joint venture companies with a market capitalization of approximately
$ 2 billion, employing over 5,000 people and still growing. Bharti Foundation
has funded over 50 schools in Madhya Pradesh and also donated Rs.200
million to IIT Delhi for building a Bharti School of Technology and
Management.
In 2006, he struck a joint venture deal with Wal-Mart, the US retail
giant, to start a number of retail stores across India. In 2006, he attracted many
key executives from Reliance ADAG, NIS Sparta and created Bharti Comtel.
45. SWAMINATHAN, M. S. – MSSR FOUNDATION
Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan is an Indian agriculture scientist,
born 1925, in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu. He was the second of four sons of a
surgeon. He is known as the "Father of the Green Revolution in India“, for his
leadership and success in introducing and further developing high-yielding
varieties of wheat in India. He is founder and Chairman of the MS
Swaminathan Research Foundation, leading the 'Evergreen Revolution'.
EDUCATION
M. S. Swaminathan’s childhood was happy and secure and he was
strongly influenced by the strong moral character and work ethic of his parents.
When Swaminathan was 11 years old, his father died unexpectedly.
Swaminathan bonded with and learned much from his uncle, a teacher and
scholar of English literature, Tamil and Sanskrit at Madras University. His
early schooling was at the Native High School and later at the Little Flower
Catholic High School in Kumbakonam. He was only 15 years old when he
graduated from high school in 1940. He went to Maharaja’s College in
Ernakulam and earned a Bachelor’s degree (B.Sc.) in zoology.
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Swaminathan was strongly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s belief in
ahimsa or non-violence to achieve Purna swaraj (total freedom) and swadeshi,
(self-reliance) on both a personal and national level. During this time of
wartime food shortages he chose a career in agriculture and enrolled in
Coimbatore Agricultural College where he graduated as class valedictorian
with another B.Sc, this time in Agricultural Science. He learnt an important
lesson while doing field extension work at Coimbatore: Men and women
toiling daily in the fields know their jobs better than a scientific expert. "Trust
the judgement of farmers."
In 1947, the year of Indian independence he moved to the Indian
Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in New Delhi as a post-graduate student
in genetics and plant breeding and obtained his post-graduate degree there with
high distinction in Cytogenetics in 1949.
He began his lifelong association with UNESCO by receiving a
UNESCO Fellowship to continue his IARI research on potato genetics at the
Wageningen Agricultural University, Institute of Genetics in the Netherlands.
Here he succeeded in standardizing procedures for transferring genes from a
wide range of wild species of Solanum to the cultivated potato, Solanum
tuberosum. In 1950, he moved to study at the Plant Breeding Institute of the
University of Cambridge School of Agriculture. He earned his Ph. D degree
here in 1952. His work presented a new concept of the species relationships
within the tuber-bearing Solanum.
Degrees in hand, Swaminathan accepted a post-doctoral research
associateship at the University of Wisconsin, Department of Genetics to help
set up a USDA Potato Research Station. Despite his strong personal and
professional satisfaction with the research work in Wisconsin, he declined the
strong offer of a full time faculty position there, because his purpose of getting
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a foreign education was to equip himself for serving the cause of Indian
agriculture. He returned to India in early 1954.
Swaminathan's poor, overpopulated homeland was importing vast
amounts of grain. "Importing food was like importing unemployment," he
recalls. "Seventy percent of our people were employed in agriculture. We were
supporting farmers in other countries." By 1966, Swaminathan was Director of
the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi, spending his time in
fields with farmers trying to help improve their productivity. Fertilizers were a
dead end: when the wheat plant's pod grew more seeds, its stalk collapsed
under the weight. With help from the Rockefeller Foundation, Swaminathan
found a cross-bred wheat seed, part-Japanese and part-Mexican, that was both
fruitful and staunch.
That was the breakthrough in the Green Revolution, but there was a lot
more work to be done. Indian farmers, immersed in traditional ways, had to be
convinced to grow the new wheat. In 1966, Swaminathan set up 2,000 model
farms in villages outside New Delhi to show farmers what his seed could do.
Then came the hardest part. He needed the government to help--specifically, to
import 18,000 tons of the Mexican seed at a time of fiscal hardship.
Swaminathan lobbied then-Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. "He probably
thought nothing could be worse," Swaminathan recalls. "Famine was
imminent. There was a willingness to take risks." The first harvest with the
new seeds was three times greater than the previous year's.
But the revolution was still incomplete. Only Punjab state had the right
irrigation for the new technologies, the state-run food collection and
distribution networks were notoriously inefficient, and new fertilizers and
pesticides were needed, along with credit lines for small farmers. Political
leadership was vital to solve that tangle of problems, and Swaminathan found
it in Shastri's successor. "Indira Gandhi was a strong nationalist," he recalls.
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"She wanted an independent foreign policy, and food was a political weapon."
Gandhi bluntly asked him how India could be free of imports and gave
Swaminathan a free hand to organize a new agricultural program. Today, India
grows some 70 million tons of wheat a year, compared to 12 million tons in the
early '60s.
Swaminathan now believes farmers must adopt more eco-friendly
methods, and he is using his influence to spread the message. And although
populations continue to mushroom, he maintains that still greater harvests are
possible. All that is needed, he says, is "inspiration, perspiration and luck." The
greatest stroke of luck for hundreds of millions of Asians has been
Swaminathan's revolution.
Improved agricultural yields alone transformed India from a "begging
bowl" to a "breadbasket" almost overnight, nearly doubling the total crop yield
from 12 million tons to 23 million tons in four crop seasons.
His enthusiasm for passing on knowledge has earned him a reputation as
a lucid educator. And his record of community service and political leadership
has won him recognition as a profound humanitarian.
Dr. Swaminathan has long held that the key to enhancing the prosperity
of India-and many other nations-is to make agriculture the cornerstone of the
economy. By taking this new information to the farmer-at the farmer's level,
with field demonstration plots- Dr. Swaminathan bypassed the stumbling block
of illiteracy and converted a generation of Indians to a belief in the
effectiveness of modern agriculture.
Dr. Swaminathan has often been noted for his understanding of the
breadth of the entire food systems. His service in government is testament to
this: in several political leadership positions, he established programs of
ecological rehabilitation, rural development and technology transfer. His
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programs effectively helped subsistence farmers reap their fair share of credit
and income while conserving national resources. "Ultimately," Swaminathan
has stated, "it is the political will of the country to have policies in place which
will stimulate production by small farmers. Without it, all research,
technology...any external advice will go in vain."
46. SWARAJ PAUL – CAPARO
Swaraj Paul, an India based business magnate and philanthropist has
founded the multinational company Caparo, the UK based steel and
engineering group in 1978. He was knighted by the British Queen in the year
1978 and became the Lord Paul of Marylebone and a member of the House of
Lords.
Swaraj Paul was born in 1931 in Jalandhar. His father used to run a
small factory of making steel buckets and farming equipments. Swaraj was
educated at Punjab University and obtained a master’s degree in Mechanical
Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US.
He joined the Apeejay Surrendra Group, founded by his father after his
returning to India in 1953. It helped him to build up a diversified industrial
group.
The twist of fate came when Swaraj went to England in 1966 hoping to
find a cure for his leukemia-stricken two-year-old daughter, Ambika. Shattered
by her death, he took over the operations of Apeejay Overseas and relocated
permanently to London. He buried himself in work and there began his
spectacular business career in Britain.
In 1968, he started buying and selling steel in a one-man business and
acquired a small tube unit, Natural Gas Tubes (NGT). This developed into one
of the leading UK producers of welded steel tube and spiral-welded pipe. He
bought more units gradually, mainly in the steel products manufacturing
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industry and founded Caparo Group in 1978. Her Majesty the Queen knighted
Swaraj Paul in the same year, thereby making him The Lord Paul of
Marylebone and a member of the House of Lords the life peer.
Lord Paul reflects on the main events of his life in his memoirs,
‘Beyond Boundaries`. It contains the details of his business career, including
his attempted takeover of the DCM and Escorts group. It also portrays his
association with the famous and the mighty, including the Indian political
dynasty of Indira Gandhi and her sons Sanjay and Rajiv. Beyond Boundaries is
a window into the making of one of the most outstanding success stories of
modern times. He has also written the biography of Indira Gandhi and was
awarded the "Padma Bhushan" by her in 1983.
The "Bharat Gaurav" honour was awarded to him by the Indian
Merchant’s Chamber. He holds the position ‘Pro-Chancellorship` of Thames
University in1998 and its Governorship (1992-97). Swaraj Paul was honoured
with the Chancellorship of the University of Wolver Hampton and the
University of Westminster. He is a member of the Foreign Policy Centre
Advisory Council and MIT`s Mechanical Engineering Visiting Committee. He
is the Chairman of the Olympic Delivery Committee with the key task of
initiating measures to acquire land and provide infra-structure for the London
Olympics 2012.
This strict vegetarian donated twenty lakh rupees to the victims of the
October 2005 earthquake in India’s Jammu and Kashmir. Swaraj Paul stepped
down from the management of the Caparo group in 1996, handing over his
empire to his three sons.
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47. JRD TATA – TATA GROUP
Achievements: JRD Tata had the honour of being India’s first pilot;
was Chairman of Tata & Sons for 50 years; launched Air India International as
India’s first international airlines; received the Bharat Rathna in 1992.
JRD Tata was born in 1904 in Paris. His mother was French, while his
father was Parsi. JRD’s full name was Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata and he
was popularly known as Jeh to his friends. His father Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata
and Sri Jamsetji Tata shared their greatness from the same great-great-grand
father, Ervad Jamshed Tata, a priest of Navasari.
JRD was the second son of four children. He was educated in France,
Japan and England before being drafted into the French army for a mandatory
one-year period. JRD wanted to extend his service in the forces but destiny had
something else in store for him. By leaving the French army, JRD’s life was
saved because shortly thereafter, the regiment in which he served was totally
wiped out during an expedition in Morocco.
JRD Tata joined Tata & Sons as an unpaid apprentice in 1925. He had
great interest in flying. In February 1929, JRD became the first Indian to pass
the pilot’s examination. With this distinctive honour of being India’s first pilot,
he was instrumental in giving wings to India by building Tata Airlines, which
ultimately became Air India. His passion for flying was fulfilled with the
formation of the Tata Aviation Service in 1932.
In 1938, at the age of 34, JRD was elected Chairman of Tata & Sons
making him the head of the largest industrial group in India. He started with 14
enterprises under his leadership and half a century later in 1988, when he left,
Tata & Sons was a conglomerate of 95 enterprises which they either started or
in which they had controlling interest. JRD was the trustee of Sir Dorabji Tata
Trust from its conception in 1932, which remained under his wings for over
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half a century. Under his guidance, this Trust established Asia’s first cancer
hospital, the Tata Memorial Center for Cancer Research and Treatment,
Bombay in 1944. It also founded the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, 1936,
the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, 1945 and the National Center for
Performing Arts.
In 1948, JRD launched Air India International as India’s first
international airlines. In 1953, the Indian Government appointed JRD as
Chairman of Air India and a Director on the Board of Indian Airlines – a
position JRD held for 25 years. For his crowning achievements in aviation,
JRD was bestowed with the title of Air Commodore of India.
JRD Tata cared greatly for his workers. In 1979, Tata Steel instituted a
new practice; a worker is deemed to be “at work” from the moment he leaves
home for work till he returns home from work. The company is financially
liable to the worker if any mishap takes place on the way to and from work.
Tata Steel Township was also selected as a UN Global Compact City because
of the quality of life, conditions of situation, roads and welfare that were
offered by Tata Steel.
JRD Tata received a number of awards. He received the Padma
Vibhushan in 1957 on the eve of the silver jubilee of Air India. He also
received the Guggenheim Medal for aviation in 1988. In 1992, because of his
selfless humanitarian endeavours JRD Tata was awarded India’s highest
civilian honour, the Bharat Rathna – one of the rarest instances in which this
award was granted during a person’s life time. In the same year, JRD Tata was
also bestowed with the UN Population Award for his crusading endeavours
towards initiating and successfully implementing the family planning
movement in India, much before it became an official governmental policy.
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JRD Tata died in Geneva, in 1993 at the age of 89. On his death, the
Indian Parliament was adjourned in his memory – an honour not usually given
to persons who are not Members of Parliament.
48. TULSI TANTI - SUZLON ENERGY
Tulsi Tanti is the Chairman and Managing Director of Suzlon Energy,
the $10 billion worth wind power based company. He along with his three
siblings own 70% of the company. He is from Gujarat where he started his first
venture which was in textiles, and then he moved into wind energy production
and founded Suzlon Energy. He is worth $930 million as per Forbes.
A commerce graduate and a diploma holder in Mechanical Engineering,
Tulsi Tanti originally hails from Gujarat and is presently based in Pune,
Maharashtra. Tulsi Tanti was earlier into textiles. He started his textile
business in Gujarat. But he found the prospects stunted due to infrastructural
bottlenecks. The biggest of them all was the cost and unavailability of power,
which formed a high proportion of operating expenses of textile industry.
In 1990, Tulsi Tanti invested in two wind turbines and realized their
huge potential. In 1995, he formed Suzlon and gradually quit textiles. Suzlon
Energy is the fifth largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world and the
largest in Asia. It is presently building what will be among the world's largest
wind parks of its kind at 1,000 MW capacity.
Suzlon is currently concentrating on a global expansion drive. It
recently acquired Hansen Transmissions, a Belgian maker of wind-turbine
gearboxes. Suzlon is also building a rotor-blade factory in Minnesota and has
invested $60m in a factory in Tianjin, China.
"Clean, green power is the best option," has been Tanti's motto and he
has been working ceaselessly towards this goal. The internationally acclaimed
`Time' magazine has recently named Tanti as one of the global "Heroes of the
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Environment" for successfully resurrecting the fledgling wind industry in
India. In spite of being a relative newcomer to the field of manufacturing wind
energy, Suzlon has been giving reliable service to global clients at competitive
rates all over the world and has also set up a marketing outfit in Denmark to
woo customers outside India. The company has already made an impact in
China, US and Australia.
So how did this small-town commerce graduate and mechanical
engineer from Rajkot, Gujarat grow into a power to be reckoned with in the
area of wind energy in India? Tulsi Tanti along with his three brothers who had
inherited their father's construction business, decided to step into an uncharted
path - that is in the textile business, in the late 1980s. Producing polyester yarn
was the starting point and later on they added furnishing fabrics to this
burgeoning business. However, they found that they were not able to achieve
expected success and sustain their business because of power-shortage and
power-failure in Surat, where their textile business was stationed.
At this point, they took upon themselves to develop wind power.
Initially when the Tantis pooled together a sum of $600,000 by selling some of
their family property, they went around enthusiastically as they tried to shop
for technology. The Tanti brothers wanted to craft their own wind turbines as
they were all engineers and were qualified adequately. However, they found
that no one was ready to part with their technology if they were not being
given a stake in the Suzlon equity venture. However, Tantis did not lose heart
and persevered. As luck would have it, Sudwind, a smaller company from
Germany nosedived in 1997, giving the Suzlon people an opportunity to
employ the Sudwind engineers and create an R&D centre in Germany. An
additional acquisition of another technological company further added to the
self-sufficiency of Suzlon.
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At the time he was managing the family textile business in Surat, a city
in western India. The business was languishing, mainly because electricity was
extremely expensive for businesses and the power grid was plagued with
outages. It was a source of great annoyance for Tanti. In 1994, he ordered two
wind turbines from Danish manufacturer Vestas, essentially taking his factory
off the power grid.
Other business owners began showing an interest in his solution,
prompting Tanti to wonder whether he might be in the wrong business. Was
not wind energy the real business of the future? He discussed his ideas with his
three brothers. Together they scraped together $ 600, 000 in seed capital,
founded Suzlon Energy and moved to Pune.
There was only one problem. None of the four brothers, all engineers,
knew anything about wind energy. But as customers, they were all too familiar
with the inadequacies of the industry. The turbines were supplied by the
manufacturer, installed by another company and maintained by a third. By the
time a turbine was up and running, the customer was often at his wits' end.
Tanti, realizing that a change was sorely needed, came up with the idea
of offering a complete package of wind energy services. Suzlon would simply
handle everything. Customers would not even have to install wind turbines on
their own premises -- instead, a customer could buy a turbine at a faraway
wind farm and would then own that turbine's output.
WITHOUT A FIGHT
The innovative aspect of Tanti's idea had more to do with the service he
was providing than with any feat of engineering. But it was a concept that
would revolutionize the wind energy business.
The brothers planned to purchase the sophisticated technology abroad,
eventually producing the turbines in India, where low production costs would
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give them an unbeatable competitive edge. But there was only one problem:
The leading European manufacturers were not about to give up their
engineering achievements without a fight.
Suzlon was forced, grudgingly, to enter into joint venture agreements
without gaining access to the technology. Tanti began his operations as a
distributor of wind turbines manufactured by the German company Sudwind.
Despite his initial reluctance, the arrangement would prove to be a stroke of
luck for Tanti's business.
Although Sudwind, a small company founded by students at the
Technical University of Berlin, built exceptional turbines, its engineer-owners
knew very little about running a business. Sudwind went into bankruptcy in the
late 1990s and Tanti seized the opportunity, acquiring parts of the Germany
company's R&D division. But instead of simply moving the technology to
India, Tanti hired the former Sudwind employees and set up an R&D
laboratory in the northern German city of Rostock. Existing designs were fine-
tuned at the laboratory, which also served as a training ground for young
Indian technicians, who would later return to India to build turbines with their
newly acquired expertise.
Similarly, Tanti managed to acquire a Dutch blade manufacturer. In
1999, when the Indian state of Maharashtra, where his business was located,
passed a law that allowed companies to claim the costs of installing wind
turbines as a tax deduction, Tanti had it made. By 2002 sales at Suzlon
quadrupled to $131 million.
ONE OF THE WORLD'S TOP WIND COMPANIES
Four years ago, investors urged him to sell the company. Tanti begged
off, telling them: "In a few years, Suzlon will be buying up the leading
European companies." As it turned out, he was right.
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Tulsi Tanti, till some years ago, was known for his achievements and for being
the 4th richest man in India. Now with a flourishing business and offices in the
US, Europe and Australia, he has soared even further. Suzlon Energy makes
wind turbines, which is the industry jargon for modern windmills used for
generating electricity. At present, Suzlon can be considered as being one of the
prime examples of India's manufacturing prowess.
His more established competitors in Europe realized long ago how
much of a threat this short man, with his carefully combed hair and thin
moustache, posed.
Speaking to TIME about the journey to become one of the most
successful entrepreneurs in renewable energy, Mr. Tanti said: "Yes, green
business is good business, but it's not just about making money. It's about
being responsible."
Mr. Tanti played a leading role in resurrecting the fledgling wind
industry in India, taking what was a fledgling industry just over a decade ago
and building the foundations for what is over a 2,000 MW an year market
today. This rapid growth of the market has led India to become the fourth
leading wind power market in the world.
49. VARGHESE KURIEN – NDDB
Achievements: Known as the father of the white revolution in India,
winner of the Ramon Magsaysay Award, awarded with the Padma Shri in
1965, Padma Bhushan in 1966, and the Padma Vibhushan in 1991.
Dr. Varghese Kurien is also called the Milkman of India. He was the
architect behind the success of the largest dairy development programme in the
world, christened Operation Flood. He was the Chairman of the Gujarat
Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF). And his name was
synonymous with the Amul brand.
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Born in 1921 in Kozhikode, Kerala, Dr. Varghese graduated with
Physics from Loyola College, Madras in 1940. Subsequently, he did his B.E.
(Mechanical) from Madras University and went to USA on a Government
scholarship to do his Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State
University. In between, he completed special studies in Engineering at the
TISCO Institute at Jamshedpur, Bihar, in 1946 and underwent nine months of
specialized training in dairy engineering at the National Dairy Development
Institute of Bangalore.
Dr. Varghese returned from US in 1948 and joined the Dairy
Department of The Government of India. In 1949, he was posted as Dairy
Engineer at the Government Research Creamery, a small milk powder factory,
in Anand, Gujarat. Around this time, the newly formed cooperative dairy,
Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union Ltd., was engaged in a
battle of survival with the privately owned Polson Dairy, which was a giant in
its field. Enthused by the challenge, Dr. Varghese left his Government job and
volunteered to help Shri Tribhuvandas Patel, the Chairman of Kaira, to set up a
processing plant. This led to the birth of AMUL and the rest is history.
In 1965, the Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, created the National
Dairy Development Board (NDDB), under the leadership of Dr. Varghese
Kurien to replicate the success story of AMUL throughout the country. In
1973, Dr. Kurien set up GCMMF to market the products produced by the
dairies. Under Dr.Varghese Kurien’s stewardship, India became the largest
producer of milk in the world. During his illustrious career, Dr. Kurien won
many accolades and awards. These include the Ramon Magsaysay Award for
Community Leadership in 1963, The Padma Shri, the Padma Bhushan, Krishi
Ratna Award, Wateler Peace Prize Award of Carnegie Foundation, World
Food Prize Laureate, International Person of the Year, by the World Dairy
Expo, Madison, Wisconsin, USA and the Padma Vibhushan.
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50. VIJAY MALLYA– UB GROUP
Achievements: Chairman of the United Breweries Group, launched a
new domestic airline called Kingfisher Airline, Rajya Sabha MP.
Prior to being entrusted with the responsibilities of a classical Indian
corporate conglomerate, Vijay Mallya worked for the American Hoechst
Corporation (now Sanofi-Aventis) in the US and with Jenson & Nicholson in
the UK. Since 1980, he assisted his father, famous industrialist Vittal Mallya,
the then Chairman of The UB Group, in managing the important Brewing and
Spirits Divisions and in re-launching the Kingfisher Brand of Beer. In 1983,
the sales volume of the UB Spirits division was approximately 2.85 million
cases and UB's beer business trailed behind that of Golden Eagle from Mohan
Meakins. Also included in the Group were activities such as pharmaceuticals,
agrochemicals, paints, petrochemicals and plastics, the manufacture of electro-
mechanical batteries, the manufacture of food products and carbonated
beverages, a fast-food pizza chain and several medium and small scale
industrial units.
In 1988, Mallya became a non-resident Indian to pursue global
opportunities and to transform The UB Group into India's first multinational
company. While, in the initial stages, overseas representative offices had been
commissioned, the real break came in 1988 when Mallya, in a leveraged
buyout, acquired the global Berger Paints Group with operating companies
across four continents. The exit strategy for this investment was profitably
executed when Mallya successfully directed five Initial Public Offerings on the
London, Singapore, Nairobi, Jamaica and Abidjan Stock Exchanges. The
paints business was divested for significant value in 1996.
Mallya also founded a software company in the US in 1993 which was
subsequently listed on the NASDAQ in 1996 and which provides a
considerable window of opportunity to the vast US market. He also initiated
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several ventures for the promotion and globalization of UB brands and, in
particular, Kingfisher and McDowell.
In 2007, United Spirits Limited, the flagship of The UB Group, acquired
a hundred percent of premium scotch distillers Whyte & Mackay and Liquidity
Inc, a United States-based maker of specialty vodkas. The Delaware-based
Liquidity Inc produces specialty brands like Pinky Vodka and Marakesh.
The UB Group's Brewing Division has also assumed undisputed market
leadership with a national market share in excess of 48%. Through a process of
aggressive acquisition and market penetration, The UB Group today controls
60% of the total manufacturing capacity for beer in India. The flagship brand,
Kingfisher, is now sold in over 50 countries worldwide having received many
accolades for its quality.
Kingfisher, one of the flagship brands of The UB Group, has partnered
with NDTV, India's leading broadcast group in a first-of-its-kind media alliance
for the promotion of NDTV Good Times. The NDTV Good Times channel
would leverage from the editorial credibility and quality of the NDTV group
and the strong lifestyle appeal of the Kingfisher brand and icon, to offer Indian
viewers a world-class television entertainment experience.
Under his dynamic leadership, the group has diversified business
interest ranging fro alcoholic beverages to life sciences, engineering,
agriculture, chemicals, IT and leisure.
In 2000, Vijay Mallya entered politics, took over as the President of the
Janatha Party and became a Rajya Sabha MP. In 2005, Vijay Mallya
established Kingfisher Airline. In a short span of time, Kingfisher Airlines has
carved a niche for itself. In 2010, it made acquisition of Air Deccan, the no-
frill airlines, the first of its kind in India.
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Vijay Mallya has other interests too apart from business. He has won
trophies in professional car racing circuits and is a keen yachtsman and aviator.
He has also won numerous trophies in horse racing including several
prestigious Derbies.
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CHAPTER 5
FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS
1. AJAY PIRAMAL - PIRAMAL ENTERPRISES LIMITED
• Ajay Piramal took the company to a place among the top five
pharmaceutical companies in India through a string of overseas
acquisitions.
• Manufacturing is finite but human intellect is infinite.
2. AMAR BOSE - BOSE CORPORATION
• Amar Bose first displayed his entrepreneurial skills and his interest in
electronics at young age, when, he enlisted school friends as co-workers
in a small home business repairing model trains and home radios.
• Basically, Bose is a technocrat who focused his research on acoustics
and using his entrepreneurial acumen developed his career in the field of
acoustics.
3. S. ANANTHARAMAKRISHNAN – AMALGAMATION GROUP
• Remembered for his successful business practices, efficient
management of the labour unions and for triggering the growth of the
automobile industry of Chennai which has earned the city the epithet
"Detroit of India". As a result he himself came to be remembered as the
"Henry Ford of South India."
• Was responsible for the rapid expansion of the Amalgamations Group in
the 1940s through take overs.
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4. ANIL AGARWAL – VEDANTA GROUP
• Anil is unafraid of risk; once he has defined his goal, he will go to do it.
That is how he has turned around his companies. More importantly, his
attitude is to plough back what he has earned.
• Anil thought in terms of scale at a time when he had none. He is the
creative, new Indian entrepreneur, generating development and jobs and
aiming big.
• A pioneer who set India on the global metals and mining map.
• Led the Vedanta Group’s primary listing on the London Stock
Exchange, a ‘first’ for an Indian business house.
5. AZIM PREMJI - WIPRO
• Premji firmly believes that ordinary people are capable of extraordinary
things. He believes that the key to this is creating highly charged teams.
He takes a personal interest in developing teams and leaders. He invests
significant time as a faculty in Wipro’s leadership development
programs.
• Premji has a fanatical belief in delivering value to the customer through
world-class quality processes.
• These are changing times. Yet in the middle of all the changes there is
one thing that constantly determines success. Some call it leadership.
But to his mind, it is the single-minded pursuit of excellence.
• Premji the businessman practices what he preaches. When it comes to
upholding personal values, there is no margin for error.
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6. BHAI MOHAN SINGH - RANBAXY LABORATORIES LTD.
• In early 1970s when Indian adopted a regime of process patents in the
Bhai Mohan Singh quickly realized that one could make any product in
the world through reverse engineering.
7. BRIJMOHAN LAL MUNJAL - THE HERO GROUP
• Brijmohan Lal Munjal is the first generation entrepreneur who started
very small and through sheer hard work and perseverance made it to the
top.
• Brijmohan changed the rules of the business by trusting his gut
instincts; introducing business norms that were ahead of their time, and
by investing in strategic relationships.
• Brijmohan built a series of bonds and networks with hundreds of family
members, vendors, dealers and employees. These networks are now the
glue that holds the Hero Group together.
• Brijmohan has been personally responsible for kindling a spirit of
entrepreneurship amongst his employees, and today, 40 of his former
employees are successful entrepreneurs.
• "Don't dream if you can't fulfill your dreams'' Brijmohan Lal Munjal is
often fond of saying.
• He could always visualize the applicability of technology before others
could.
• A frugal upbringing and a value system modeled on the famous Gurukul
system - which stresses the sanctity of the teacher-pupil relationship -
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imbibed in Brijmohan a strong sense of social commitment and
responsibility.
8. CHETAN MAINI - REVA ELECTRIC CAR
• Few among us have the luxury of pursuing a hobby so seriously that in
the end a mere extension of it will help us make a living. Chetan Maini
is such a rare example.
• He loves challenges. When he faces a challenge, he seems to get a lot
more energy and get the thought process in place that pushes him
forward. His business has been about challenges from day to day and
that is what really keeps him going. Some of those may be frustrating at
points, but when he sits back, looks at the issue, he generally tries and
changes that to an opportunity and refocuses his efforts.
• As for handling criticism, he always looks at what or how he could get
out from that. If someone is being critical, it is because they are seeing a
perspective that he does not see. So if someone has been critical, he
expresses his point of view, the advantages, and tries to convince them
his perspective and at the same time, hears their perspective and tries to
see what he should do differently to change their mindset.
• “Have an idea that you absolutely believe in. Surround yourself with
people who share that dream and focus on areas that are actually your
weaknesses”, he says.
9. DEEPAK PAREKH – HDFC
• Deepak Parekh is unofficially dubbed the government's informal crisis-
manager.
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• He has served as an invaluable problem-solver with innovative, creative
and credible alternate inputs that have shaped policy.
• It was his vision and entrepreneurial acumen that enabled HDFC to
create a niche in housing finance and emerge as the market leader.
• Known as a tough task master in HDFC, Parekh has the knack of
retaining his best people; hardly a single person from the company's
senior cadre - be it director, general manager or deputy general manager
- has left the organization in the last so many years. Employees attribute
this to Parekh's outstanding leadership qualities.
10. DHIRUBHAI AMBANI – RELIANCE GROUP
• Dhirubhai Ambani is remembered as the one who rewrote Indian
corporate history and built a truly global corporate group.
• He is credited with shaping India’s equity culture: attracting millions of
retail investors in a market till then dominated by financial institutions.
• He says “Till my last breath I will work. To retire there is only one
place, the cremation ground.”
• Remained on the top till the end by virtue of his ability to dream big and
translate it into reality through the strength of his tenacity and
perseverance.
• He is an example of what an ordinary Indian fired by the spirit of
enterprise and driven by determination can achieve in his own lifetime.
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11. EKTA KAPOOR - BALAJI TELEFILMS
• It was hard work, passion, and a fire in the stomach titanic struggle for
almost six long years which brought success to Ekta Kapoor.
• From the beginning she has worked, eaten and slept only with television
- thinking of concepts, casting, styling, selecting technicians, shooting
and scheduling, marketing and acquiring the new skills required to
succeed.
• Success has changed her completely. She is now craving for more, open
to improvement and determined to make it to the top.
12. GALLA RAMACHANDRA NAIDU – AMARARAJA BATTERIES
• With his intense zeal and highly focused approach, Galla Ramachandra
Naidu propelled Amara Raja Batteries in the top league of battery
companies in India.
• He has promoted and established many companies from the conceptual
stage which are now well established and profit making.
• He saw the opportunity for marketing the latest technology batteries in
India.
• He always took bold decisions. When the company was started, he made
a decision to depend heavily on fresh recruits.
13. GAUTAM ADANI - ADANI GROUP
• It is his uncanny ability to spot scalable businesses that makes Adani a
visionary.
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• He owes his success to opportunities that came knocking on his door,
but more so to those he saw when no one else did.
• Adani is known to be a keen learner.
• He values management expertise above all and has built a strong team
of professionals to drive the group’s rapid growth.
• He believes in domain expertise. Secret behind Adani’s huge success -
he entered sectors which were still nascent and were largely
government-owned. He chose consciously such that there was not too
much competition.
• He may use his instinct to spot an opportunity, but after that everything
is well planned.
14. GHANSHYAM DAS BIRLA – BIRLA GROUP
• Ghanshyam Das Birla is considered as a doyen of Indian Industry.
• G.D. Birla was a multi-faceted personality.
• This noted businessman had to cover a number of obstacles as the
British and Scottish merchants with unethical and monopolistic methods
tried to close his business.
15. GOENKA. R.P. – RPG GROUP
• Goenka is one of the visionary Indian businessmen who wanted to take
advantage of post-independence emerging opportunities, move on the
fast track and grow. Within a short time, Rama Prasad Goenka
successfully forged business relationships with an amazing number of
top multinationals and paved the way to usher in new technologies to
India.
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• Throughout his life, Rama Prasad Goenka has taken keen interest in
building business bridges for India with leading countries of the world
and attracting technology and investments from abroad.
16. JEYSINGH THOMAS - AVT GROUP
• Jeysingh Thomas was an entrepreneur and philanthropist, who
contributed to tapping technology to tackle the vagaries of monsoon.
• When many of the agri-businesses in the country were unable to cope
with the challenges because of their cyclical nature, he was among those
who successfully moved from a commodity based business to value
addition.
• Effective identification of markets and technological joint ventures
contributed to his success.
• His efforts at value addition in agro-processing were innovative.
• He had a sharp business mind and made friends for life and kept his
word.
17. JINDAL, O.P. - JINDAL GROUP
• Jindal always had the conviction that India should be self-reliant in
every sector of industry. He visited several foreign countries to elicit
latest industrial technical development and know-how. He acquired a
great deal of knowledge, which he aptly applied to enhance production
of his industrial establishments.
• He was a successful industry visionary and would remain as a role
model for others.
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• On account of his dedicated services to various sections of society
particularly, of the poor and backward classes, he was revered by all.
Jindal always advocated for granting a rightful place for weaker sections
in politics. He was above caste, politics and wanted all to come up
regardless of their caste, colour and creed. He firmly held the view that
all differences in life that exist today can be amicably resolved with
meaningful meetings and dialogues.
• Jindal's philosophy was that without the upliftment of weaker and
backward sections of society our dream of being a leading nation of the
world shall remain unfulfilled.
• Jindal's mantra was “where others saw walls he saw doors”. Then
whether it was opening doors or breaking down walls he always led the
way.
18. JOHN YESUDHAS, V.F. – WAVETEL
• Wavetel gave Chennai the concept of the first retailer delivering mobile
phones to doorsteps.
• Yesudhas has set up a chain which has given employment to 300
youngsters and has served 15 lakh Chennaites so far.
• They are also the first store (in the mobile market in Chennai) to get
ISO certification for all their chain stores.
• He brought in many innovative schemes like ‘buy one get one free’ in
the mobile industry and that sort revolutionized the trade.
• When it comes to offers, Wavetel is the trendsetter.
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• He is the first mobile retailer in the country to start a 24x7 call centre for
the customers which other dealers across the country followed.
19. KALLAM ANJI REDDY - DR REDDY'S LABS
• Dr Reddy’s Labs has been credited with turning the Indian bulk drug
industry from dependence on imports to self reliance and finally into the
export-oriented industry that it is today.
• Anji Reddy’s strategy is to expand, to create and to achieve much more
at a much faster pace and with a great degree of self-confidence.
• He saw to it that the moment they got into a city, they started as many
stores as possible there. Only that made business sense.
• As founder and its Chairman, it is his fervent wish that the innovative
spirit shall endure and will be passed on to the successive generations of
chemists and others and that this will form the backbone of this great
institution.
• He believes that through efficiency, they are helping the consumers save
more.
20. KARSANBHAI PATEL – NIRMA
• Karsanbhai Patel’s is a legendary rags to riches journey during which he
shattered established business theories and rewrote new ones.
• The process of detergent production is labour intensive and this gives
employment to a large number of people.
• Nirma focuses on cost reduction strategies to make a place for itself in
the market.
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• Nirma has always been known for offering quality products at
affordable prices and thus creating good value for the consumer’s
money.
• Apart from other educational institutions, Nirma has also set up Nirma
labs , which prepares aspiring entrepreneurs to effectively face the
different business challenges.
21. KIRAN MAZUMDAR-SHAW - BIOCON LTD
• Kiran was not content to be an employee in a company.
• She set doable goals.
• Her unique vision has steered Biocon’s transformation from an
industrial enzyme company to an integrated bio-pharmaceutical
company with strategic research initiatives.
• She is a successful technocrat of global standing.
22. KISHORE BIYANI – PANTALOON
• Kishore Biyani is the unchallenged king of retail. He has the knack of
catching rivals off-guard and striking where it hurts most.
• He is the man you are most likely to ignore at the Pantaloon or Big
Bazaar store, as he stands in a corner observing the way you shop. But
make no mistake; what he may lack in sartorial style, he more than
makes up through his observation powers.
• He believes in taking quick decisions especially striking deals with
other companies. He leaves the task of relationship building to his
managers.
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• A retailer by karma and a nationalist by dharma, Kishore Biyani prides
in being Indian and advocates ‘Indianness’ as the core value driving his
company.
• He stresses on the importance on continuous “Introspection” and is a
firm believer in learning, unlearning and re-learning all the time.
• His passion is ‘observing’. He is a compulsive reader.
23. KOCHOUSEPH CHITTILAPPILLY -V GUARD
• Kochouseph had a clear vision and foresight about the market potential
for voltage stabilizers in the days to come because of the poor quality of
power available and the potential for electronic items.
• He gives importance to self-esteem, mental peace, happiness and health.
This is a sincere remark from a genuine, straightforward businessman
who values ethics to the hilt.
• He is a leader as well as a team player and gives full credit to his
employees.
• It is perhaps his penchant to be original, passion for his brand, and a
common sense approach to management that keeps V-Guard stand apart
from the crowd.
• V-Guard scores on quality and after-sales service.
24. MOHAN SINGH OBEROI - OBEROI GROUP
• Oberoi can be aptly termed as the father of the Indian hotel industry.
• He was among the first to recognize the potential of the tourism
industry, its ability to contribute to India’s economic growth and
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generate direct and indirect employment. He worked tirelessly to put the
Indian hotel industry on global tourism map.
• Certainly he did not give much of the credit to luck. True, he stood at
the right time at the right place to confront his destiny, but this was just
physical happenstance.
• Perhaps the one philosophy responsible might be his dictum. “I never
worry. It clutters the brain. The problem may not happen, and even if it
does, worrying will only come in the way of a clear-headed solution.”
25. NARAYANA MURTHY, N. R. – INFOSYS
• Narayana Murthy had the vision to forge ahead in the computer and IT
industry and rightly picked up his colleagues who later became his
co-promoters of Infosys.
• The life lessons he has learnt are the importance of learning from
experience, the power of chance events, a growth mindset, and self-
knowledge what ultimately helps develop a more grounded belief in
oneself, courage, determination, and, above all, humility, all qualities
which enable one to wear one's success with dignity and grace.
• He emphasizes that entrepreneurship, resulting in large-scale job
creation, is the only viable mechanism for eradicating poverty in
societies.
26. NARESH GOYAL - JET AIRWAYS
• When the government opened the airline industry to private
competition, Naresh Goyal jumped at the opportunity. He got in front of
the wave before it reached the shore.
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• Following the bad times in the airline industry, Naresh Goyal joined
hands with his prominent rival Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines, thus
making Jet Airways-Kingfisher not only the largest market player, but
also enabling both the airlines that would otherwise head for a collapse
to economize and save. This shows his business acumen keeping
business interests above personal interests.
27. DR. PRATAP C REDDY - APOLLO HOSPITAL GROUP
• Dr. Pratap Reddy revolutionized the health care system in India.
• He pioneered the establishment of private hospitals in India.
• Dr. Reddy has been pro-active in modifying government regulations to
suit current medical trends.
• He helped to ease import restrictions and made the government take a
liberal view on organ transplants among others.
• Apart from this hospital work, he encourages research work and
facilitates exchange programmes for doctors with other medical
institutes so that they may have a constant upgrade of knowledge and
remain at par with the best in technology and knowledge across the
world.
28. RAMNATH GOENKA - INDIAN EXPRESS GROUP
• Ramnath Goenka is regarded as the first media baron of India.
• Ramnath Goenka took over the loss-making Madras edition of The Free
Press Journal, drove the delivery van himself to dispatch the papers and
started publishing it successfully.
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• He founded the Indian Express. Following this, both the Indian Express
and Ramnath Goenka openly challenged the British Raj.
• His critics believe that his passion for politics was the fire that led the
newspapers from Indian Express Group on a blazing trail.
29. RAMOJI RAO – RAMOJI CITY
• ''Discipline, inspiration and perspiration,'' is what media baron Ramoji
Rao, attributes to his success.
• He is one of the most versatile and hugely successful entrepreneurs in
the country today and has to his credit a host of flourishing businesses.
• Ramoji Rao is able to handle his varied businesses because he believes
in delegating authority and maintaining transparency in all his deals.
• He knows that there is no substitute for hard work. ''I set a goal and then
go ahead with dogged determination till I have accomplished what I set
out to achieve.''
30. RANGANATHAN, C. K. - CAVINCARE
• If you do not differentiate, you perish.
• Teamwork is the main reason for his success. Ranganathan believes in
team effort and collective, collaborative effort in decision making.
• He has good professionals who work really hard.
• The other reason of his success is innovation.
• He has the ability to take a risk and the ability to take a step forward.
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• He would like to be known for creativity and for injecting and spreading
the 'I can' spirit.
• He has proved that with a humble background it is possible to come up
in life. He wants to create similar people and kindle their desire. That is
his vision and mission.
31. RAO, G.M. - GMR GROUP
• A visionary businessman, G.M. Rao recognized the huge business
potential in entering the infrastructure space, with the opening up of the
power sector in the 90s in India.
• His commitment to the core infrastructure sector has resulted in the
Group exiting some of the highly lucrative businesses of banking,
insurance, breweries and jute.
• G.M. Rao has laid a strong emphasis in building a transparent and
system driven organisation.
• This serial entrepreneur, with a penchant for executing projects before
time, has always been ready to seize every opportunity that came his
way.
• G.M. Rao’s thrust is on combining the best of entrepreneurial spirit with
a dynamic team of professional managers who work in an enabling and
vibrant organisational culture, to sustain and consistently meet his
vision for the Group of ‘Building Entrepreneurial organisations that
make a difference to society through Creation of Value’.
• G.M. Rao relishes beating competition decisively. Right from those
watershed college elections to bid for road projects where seasoned
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players were left guessing how the numbers worked, he has a will to
win.
• “My father has always believed in focusing on one project till such time
that we secure it,” says G.M.Rao’s younger son. “This is why we have
managed to be successful in whatever we have taken up. Perseverance
and single-point focus is the clear message for all of us.”
• Passion for challenge has not only seen G.M. Rao scripting his own
story, but also changing his characters and goals to cope up with
changing scenarios.
32. RAUNAQ SINGH - APOLLO TYRES
• Raunaq Singh grabbed every opportunity which came his way.
• He started his corporate journey without a pedigree, higher education or
money, essential ingredients for success in corporate India, making it
possible for ordinary folks to dream big.
• He was among the first post-partition breed of businessmen who came
to India after the creation of Pakistan with nothing to fall on.
• He was a great advocate of economic liberalization and globalization of
the Indian business.
• He strived to put the Indian industry on the global map and worked
diligently towards this goal until the last day of his life.
33. SABEER BHATIA - HOTMAIL
• Sabeer Bhatia’s greatest accomplishment was not to build the company
but to convince people that this is their company...how this would
ultimately benefit them.
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• His role is an enabler and did not do the work.
• Ask what he does, and he will tell you only that he works in hi-tech, just
like hundreds of thousands of other young people in the Valley.
• He has a very regal air; he is a deep listener, a gentle giant.
• What really set Sabeer apart from the hundreds of entrepreneurs is the
gargantuan size of his imagination or dream.
34. SARATH BABU – FOOD KING
• Sarath encourages youngsters to become entrepreneurs, so that they
could provide jobs to other people. He also tells children - it does not
cost 'money' to dream.
• Food business is not just about selling but also taking care of quality
and the people associated with it, Sarath points out. And how does he
manage his team? “I ask them to write their dreams on a piece of paper
and advise them to think of developing themselves,” says Sarath.
35. SATHISH BABU, D. – UNIVERCELL
• The ability to attract, develop and retain a spirited, motivated and
committed workforce is one of the key reasons for UniverCell's success.
• Judicious investment in technology and people has seen to that.
• Sathish Babu strives to constantly incorporate innovative retailing
concepts into his organization.
• Training and constant motivation are important elements of the
organization’s culture and Sathish Babu’s young staff are known for
their job knowledge, high morale articulation and pleasant demeanour.
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• Studying the buying behavior of his customers, Sathish understood that
what consumers really wanted was to make intelligent and informed
shopping decisions in an ambience that combined both comfort and a
high degree of service.
• “Opportunities are plenty. What is needed is a positive mind. Obstacles
will be there but you can overcome them as long as you do not accept
defeats as final. Try, try, and try. You can succeed. Perseverance will
see you through. This is how we have grown. Nothing can be achieved
without sacrifice. Even small, small sacrifices can give you greater
happiness. For instance, when building the business, it becomes
inevitable to miss a few family functions and other social occasions”, he
says.
36. SEEMA KAKKAR –REMANIKA
• There are no festivities in commitment. If you have made a
commitment, it has to be fulfilled; no matter, whether it’s a vendor,
customer or employees.
• Seema would recommend designers-fresh out of college-to work for at
least five years in established companies before starting on your own.
• Have a long-term vision, and remember time is never lost for following
your passion.
37. SHAHNAZ HUSAIN - SHAHNAZ HUSAIN HERBALS
• Shahnaz Husain has become known for her specialized clinical
treatments and therapeutic products for specific problems.
• Shahnaz has never been one to rest on her laurels.
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• She has always looked ahead, towards newer challenges, incorporating
the latest techniques and introducing unique innovations. Her natural
instincts and foresight have always led her to the next frontier, with her
finger on the pulse of international demands.
• Hers is the story of the human spirit that transcends geographical
boundaries and encompasses the entire world. It is a story that is an
inspiration to others to follow their dreams with faith and courage.
• The lady invented a marketing style uniquely her own; she decided to
make the brand a personality-driven one, flying in to various cities to
lecture on herbals and Ayurveda, inaugurating Shahnaz franchises and
salons, and returning the same day.
• In retrospective, Shahnaz attributes her success to her sheer grit and
determination. “I do not believe in destiny – the word fail does not exist
in my dictionary. I never fail, because I never stop trying,” she says.
• Having completed over 25 years in the business, the self-taught
marketing miracle reveals her formula for success. “In life, you get what
you negotiate. Any woman has the capacity to do what I did – it does
not matter what you want, what matters is how badly you want it.”
38. SHAMIT KHEMKA- SYNAPSE INDIA
• Shamit Khemka is a staunch believer of hard work and integrity.
• He performs silently and continues to let his works talk for them.
• Shamit faced every challenge that tried to hinder his progress with
inerrant determination.
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• He adds up his excellent managerial skills to become a complete
package that embodies the perfect prescription for success - both
individually and for all who contribute to his team.
• Shamit’s ability of identifying futuristic opportunities helps him to
move ahead of the time. His ability to smartly handle a situation is
largely responsible for his success today.
• Shamit Khemka has a knack of playing the lead role in every activity
that he indulges himself in.
• To walk with the pace of time, and stay ahead of it, he garners
information by reading books and browsing through the net. He keeps
his eye on latest trends and styles and encourages every member of his
team to enhance their knowledge base.
• If a strong value system works as the fundamental of this man, it results
into his committed determination that gets reflected in the form of
several successful endeavors.
• Like a true leader, he keeps his team aware of any impending challenge
and motivates them to achieve the newer height by conquering the
limits.
• If foresightedness and hard work are two mandatory requirements to be
known as a successful individual, Shamit has both the pre-requisites
aplenty.
39. SHASHI RUIA – ESSAR GROUP
• Shashi Ruia imbibed the spirit of enterprise from his father who took
him along wherever he went to start a business.
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• The story of great businesses in the history of world has not been
written by wealth but by innovation, enterprising attitude, skill and an
ability to see beyond the present. Shashi Ruia probably is one such
individual, who has written his own history by dint of his courage and
never-say-die attitude.
• Ruia has not only masterminded the group's business strategy but has
also consolidated a whole range of activities through backward and
forward integration.
• Widely regarded as one of the architects of modern India, he has a
passion for education and mentoring young talent. He considers all
employees of Essar a part of his extended family.
40. SHIV NADAR - HCL
• Nadar’s contemporaries say that his great attributes include ability to
execute a business strategy ruthlessly and ambition to become the
number one in the business he enters into. These traits are
complemented by his hands-off management style: he adopts an idea
and then gives his employees a free hand to execute and build the
business.
• In many respect he has been way ahead of times, he is a visionary who
thinks beyond his time and his gift from god is the ability to find the
right people for the right job, give them the right freedom to operate and
reap the benefits, says a former associate. Another feels that the main
reason for his success has been his ability to be a venture capitalist and
entrepreneur at the same time.
• While most others prefer a hands-on approach, he is the man who does
the least himself, apart from strategic thinking or prioritizing and leaves
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it to his team to find the best path to capture the objective. But is not
that leadership is all about.
• While he is quick to reward performers, Nadar is known to be ruthless
when performance is not quite up to his exact standards. The ruthless
attitude, in the final analysis, is the reason for his success.
• According to a former HCL group executive, Nadar is clinical while
evaluating new business proposals. He demands clear answers broken
into bottom line numbers. The questioning and discussions are so
incisive and frank that story goes that if Nadar is convinced, the
business will succeed.
• The bearded high tech entrepreneur nurtured HCL in his signature style
of decentralized management making it a billion dollar group with 100
offices worldwide. In the process, he created wealth for himself, his
associates and investors.
• In all these years, Nadar never lost sight of being a visionary. The
corporate restructuring he undertook over the years resulted in several
companies, each with a chosen professional head.
• In a short span of time, Shiv Nadar has reached pinnacle of success by
his hard work, vision and entrepreneurial spirit.
41. SINGH, K.P. – DLF GROUP
• Singh says that observing Welch's toughness with GE's managers in
close quarters provided a model for running DLF: Think big and be a
sector leader.
• DLF always aims for the very best from day one.
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42. SUBHASH CHANDRA GOYAL - ZEE TV
• Subhash Chandra Goyal was the first in India who sought to harness the
huge business potential of satellite television channels.
• It was Subhash Chandra’s vision that helped give birth to the satellite
TV industry in India and inspired others to follow suit.
• Zee TV became the first service provider in India to launch Direct to
Home services.
• Zee group of companies positioned itself to tap the tremendous business
opportunity offered by digital communication services in India.
• Subhash Chandra Goyal understands very well the importance of
building a high-quality media conglomerate.
• He was the first in the television industry to introduce employee stock
options.
43. SUBRATA ROY – SAHARA GROUP
• The company is the vision of a man who thinks he is the father of all his
employees.
• Subrata Roy believes he is the guardian of this family who has the right
to love and scold all members.
• He boasts that employees are not union members. It is private, a family
affair with no owner, the profits reinvested or distributed to good
causes.
• The Sahara website says – “Our employees are not employees. They are
family members. All belong to Sahara and Sahara belongs to all.”
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44. SUNIL BHARTI MITTAL -BHARTI GROUP
• Sunil Bharti Mittal was one of the first Indian entrepreneurs to identify
the mobile telecom business as a major growth area and launched
services in India.
• Always on the move and making an impact and excelling in whatever
he did, this clear thinking risk taker has changed the face of the Indian
ICT space.
• In spite of his deep involvement in work, Mittal the man is calm,
seldom ruffled and very down to earth.
• ‘We are very fair to the people we work with (suppliers, buyers, staff).
We wanted to prove that even with meagre capital we could do bigger
things. Now a corporation, we are working to make it an institution.
There is no employee-owner situation here. Everybody is a co-owner
and now owns stock. It is a very enabling environment. There is no hire-
and-fire here’ he says.
45. SWAMINATHAN, M. S. – MSSR FOUNDATION
• Swaminathan’s stated vision is to rid the world of hunger and poverty.
Dr. Swaminathan is an advocate of sustainable development, especially
using environmentally sustainable agriculture, sustainable food security
and the preservation of biodiversity.
• His motto is "if conservation of natural resources goes wrong, nothing
else will have a chance to go right." He said, that: "I am firmly
convinced that hunger and deprivation can be eliminated sooner than
most people consider feasible, provided there is a synergy among
technology, public policy and social action".
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• He is widely recognized as the architect of the "Green Revolution" in
India, which radically improved agricultural yields through the
introduction of genetically superior grain varieties.
• Dr. Swaminathan has proven that he is not only a brilliant scientist, but
a capable administrator as well.
• His infectious enthusiasm and love of humanity have inspired and
motivated thousands of others to give whole-heartedly to the cause he
has chosen for his life's work: humbly serving the rural poor.
• Swaminathan combined all the great components of a revolutionary:
vision, dedication, energy and follow-through.
46. SWARAJ PAUL – CAPARO
• Swaraj Paul, an India based business magnate and philanthropist has
founded the multinational company Caparo, the UK based steel and
engineering group having learnt business lessons from his father at a
young age.
• His company developed into one of the leading producers of welded
steel tube and spiral-welded pipe in the UK.
• Lord Paul lives a very simple life despite being one of the richest people
in the UK.
47. JRD TATA – TATA GROUP
• As an industrialist, JRD Tata is credited with placing the Tata Group on
the international map.
• Leadership, according to JRD meant motivating others.
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• Mr. Tata was able to harness a team of individualistic executives,
capitalizing upon their strengths, downplaying their differences and
deficiencies; all by the sheer weight of his leadership.
• JRD initiated a programme of closer “employee association with
management” to give workers a stronger voice in the affairs of the
company. He firmly believed in employee welfare and espoused the
principles of an eight hours working day, free medical aid, workers’
provident fund scheme, and workmen’s accident compensation
schemes, which were later adopted as statutory requirements in India.
48. TULSI TANTI - SUZLON ENERGY
• Mr. Tanti is recognized for his personal vision and leadership in
creating Suzlon – one of the world’s leading wind power players.
• Tulsi Tanti, an entrepreneur, has made a long-lasting impression abroad
and brought glory to the ingenious and astute spirit of contemporary
India by exploring the possibilities of non-conventional energy.
• Tulsi is a tiger with a burning desire to play on the global stage. He
wants Suzlon to be among the top three wind energy companies in the
world. He has the determination of an uncannily shrewd businessman to
be the biggest renewable energy player in the world.
• When the Government of Maharashtra made an announcement that it
would support the creation of wind power, Tanti and team took upon
themselves to develop wind power. Tanti, realizing that a change was
sorely needed, came up with the idea of offering a complete package of
wind energy services.
• Despite his serious demeanor and modest appearance, Tanti is known
for his cunning and aggressive takeover tactics.
205
49. VARGHESE KURIEN – NDDB
• Varghese Kurien is known as the Father of White Revolution (in India)
or the Milkman of India.
• He is one of the very few people who are not money driven in their
cause but work round the clock to bring about a change for the common
man.
• He brought the benefits of modern technology and marketing to the
ordinary dairy farmer.
• Kurien's cooperative venture was built on a simple but compelling logic
- mass consumption and mass production must go hand in hand to bring
all round prosperity.
• Kurien's professional life has been dedicated to empowering millions of
humble Indian milk producers, in whom he saw an unsuspected
economic resource and potential at the bottom of the pyramid. ''Without
their involvement, we cannot succeed. With their involvement, we
cannot fail...'' remains his simple but fail-safe inspiration.
50. VIJAY MALLYA – UB GROUP
• Vijay Mallya initiated the process of defining a corporate structure with
performance accountability, inducting professional management and
consolidating the unwieldy empire into individual operating divisions.
• He has focused on areas of core competence and transformed the vastly
diversified UB conglomerate into a handful of key operating businesses.
206
• Mallya is known for his myriad interests, his flashy flamboyant style of
leadership and his unorthodox style of management. His entrepreneurial
style, his trade acquisitions etc., reveal sharp business acumen.
• Following the Government of India's liberalized economic policies, Dr.
Mallya decided that the UB Group would only retain interests in
businesses that were globally competitive and which did not depend
upon fiscal tariff protection. He also decided to focus on areas of core
competence and transformed the vastly diversified UB conglomerate
into a handful of key operating businesses.
• On entering the new millennium, the UB Group is considerably more
focused and has dramatically increased value for its shareholders
through its various operating businesses.
• Under his dynamic leadership, the group has grown into a multinational
conglomerate of over sixty companies. During this process, UB
acquired several companies abroad.
207
SUGGESTIONS
The following suggestions are made to resolve the various issues
relating to entrepreneurship in small scale industries. The suggestions are given
categorically to the government, to the banks and other financial institutions
and to the entrepreneurs.
5.1 SUGGESTIONS TO THE GOVERNMENT
(i) In order to run industrial enterprise on efficient lines, proper training,
motivation and wide expose become extremely important. It is
universally accepted that "entrepreneurs can be taught and made." In
India, illiteracy has been the main stumbling block for entrepreneurship
development. Therefore, the first step to adopt is to provide suitable
education and training to the people. The encouragement and
development of entrepreneurship culture should become the core part of
our education system, so that the young men and women can become
"job givers" and not "job seekers"
(ii) Unutilized capacity of an industry is an index of its problems and all the
problems faced by industry leads to underutilization of installed
capacity. Power scarcity is the main reason for underutilization of
capacity. Every possible step should be taken to improve the power
condition of the state on priority basis.
(iii) Severe penalties may be levied on entrepreneurs found misusing the
funds or otherwise seeking financial assistance by under-hand means.
Preventive measures should be taken to provide a check on the
malpractices of small units.
208
(iv) The government must provide efficient and effective consultancy
services to the entrepreneurs.
(v) Unhealthy competition among the small units as well as large units
should be discouraged as far as marketing problems are concerned. The
state government needs to be active in this regard. As a sign of
encouragement to local entrepreneurs, government departments should
procure products produced by these entrepreneurs.
(vi) Raw-material banks needs to be opened up in states. Scarcity of
raw-materials and their high prices as a result of it, are the main
problem of raw-materials.
(vii) Both the central and state governments should give wide publicity so as
to reach the information to all the entrepreneurs about policies,
incentives, schemes, programmes, etc., relating to small scale industries.
(viii) As far as possible, in order to reduce the competition from the large
sector, the small scale industrial units should operate in the areas
reserved for them. Similarly, more number of items should be reserved
for the exclusive production of the small scale sector.
(ix) Law and order problems need to be tackled properly by the Government
so that there is a conducive atmosphere for the entrepreneurs to run their
businesses without any hindrance.
5.2 SUGGESTIONS TO BANKS AND OTHER FINANCIAL
INSTITUTIONS
i) It is a common understanding that all who want bank loans are not
necessarily genuine entrepreneurs or businessmen. There are some who
want to get loan merely to divert it for non-productive purposes. It may
209
not be difficult for banks to identify such persons. But while doing so,
banks should not discourage genuine entrepreneurs.
ii) The financial agencies must treat loan seekers as customers and not
beggars.
iii) The level of confidence of both entrepreneurs and bankers can be
improved by constant follow-up and monitoring. It will help in
developing a feeling of partnership among bankers and entrepreneurs in
the growth of small enterprises.
iv) The commercial banks and financial agencies may establish more small
scale industrial specialized branches at least one in every district head
quarters to cater to the financial needs of small entrepreneurs.
v) Application procedures and approval criteria should be made simple
and quick loan approvals should be done at the branch level.
vi) Design appropriate saving schemes suitable for the poor; these are
valued, and they are an important source of mobilising funds at rural
levels.
vii) Timely and adequate finance extending upto the operational cycle of
the activity must be available to the entrepreneurs.
viii) Banking services should be available near to the entrepreneurs /
enterprise; if necessary, the banker should go to the borrower, rather
than other way round.
ix) Banks need to re-think about their loan giving policies to the
entrepreneurs. Shortage of working capital is the main factor
responsible for slow commencement of an industrial unit. So, proper
handling of this problem is very important.
210
5.3 SUGGESTIONS TO THE ENTREPRENEURS
i) The entrepreneurs should develop a proper industrial plan before
starting a unit. Undertaking of feasibility study either by himself or
through outside agencies can be very helpful in this regard.
ii) The entrepreneurs should take proper training through the government
and non-governmental agencies before starting a unit; this enables the
entrepreneurs to protect their units from sickness.
iii) The entrepreneurs should employ latest techniques of production and
skilled labour so as to improve the quality of the products and
marketing.
iv) As the competition is found to be a major problem in many units, the
entrepreneurs should try to divert to less competitive areas and before
they venture, they should analyse the demand.
v) Low level of education should not deter one to start an industrial
venture, though, it is a fact that people with higher educational levels
are finding their entry into industry easier. Moreover, higher the level of
education, the greater is the chance to start a venture as a first
generation entrepreneur.
vi) The spread of schooling has cut across the business of religion. None of
the entrepreneurial religions are placed in a disadvantageous position,
by comparison.
vii) Low level of parental education does not prove hindrance to
entrepreneurship.
viii) Urban background is not a pre-condition of industrial entrepreneurship.
211
ix) What is an ambition for one entrepreneur may be a compulsion for
another. It is the entrepreneurs' attitudes that ultimately make the
difference.
x) Previous experience in manufacturing and encouragement of family
members / relatives / friends facilitates entrepreneurship.
xi) Ambitions motivate men. It activates men, broaden their vision and
make the life more meaningful.
xii) Many of the entrepreneurs expect a lot from the state government and
other non-government agencies. But never expect its exact fulfillment.
xiii) Previous experience or employment in the industry should form a basis
for selecting the right type of industries.
xiv) For starting a venture, the availability of enough finance is the most
important factor. Without it, the idea to start business or venture will
always remain a simple wish.
xv) One should have some basic and essential managerial skills in the
functional areas like finance, production and marketing for entering into
industrial entrepreneurship.
xvi) 21-30 years' age group is the right time for starting an industry.
xvii) Attending EDPs can help the entrepreneurs in running enterprises
smoothly and profitably.
xviii) Labour should be given full opportunity of being trained. The problem
of absenteeism of labour needs to be looked into with a humane
approach. There should be employer-employee friendly relationship
inside the industrial unit.
212
xix) Entrepreneurs need to re-think about their banking habits. Banks are
here to help the entrepreneurs but it does not mean that these helps from
the banks are taken for granted. Timely repayment of bank loans is the
need of the hour.
xx) The small scale industrial units should maintain proper books of
accounts. Statutory obligation should be imposed on the units to
maintain and prepare their books of accounts by professional
accountant.
xxi) Everyone cannot be a successful entrepreneur. An individual must have
certain values and traits to be a successful entrepreneur. The traits and
values are need for achievement, need for power, positive work value;
moderate job anxiety, risk taking propensity, internal control
orientation, high level of aspiration and preference for participative and
nurturant-task styles of leadership.
213
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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214
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Guwahati, December 1998.
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Education and Training, National Seminar on Entrepreneurship
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(Supplement), Vol. VIII, No. 47, Nov. 24, 1973.
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Problems & Prospects, Paper presented in the V Annual Conference of
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VII, No. 48, November, 1972, pp. M 179 M 187.
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5, 1997.
21. Vepa Ram K., Entrepreneurship for Development of Backward Areas,
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318-30.
NEWSPAPER REPORTS
1. Arun Shourie, Charge of the Indian Brigade, Indian Express, 04/4/2004.
2. Balasubramanian D., The Innovation Quarter to Success, The Hindu,
22/01/09.
3. Bureau Report, TN announces policy on Micro, SME sectors, Business
Line dated 23/2/2008.
4. Entrepreneurs in India and China, the Economist, February 23 – March 5,
2009.
5. Entrepreneur and philanthropist Jeysingh Thomas passes away, The
Hindu, 19/10/2009.
6. Harshika Udasi, Drama Queen Gets Real, The Hindu, 29/07/2007.
7. Hemamalini Venkatraman, TN readies new MSME policy, The Economic
Times dated 20/2/2008.
8. India’s shining hopes, The Economist, 21/2/2004.
9. Innovative India, The Economist, 03/04/2004.
232
10. Madhusudhan Veeraraghavan, Growth of SMEs in manufacturing, The
Economic Times dated 11/3/2008.
11. Rajat Gupta, Creating Indian Entrepreneurs, India Today, February 12,
2001
12. The Rise of India, Business Week, 12/4/2004.
13. Vijay Kelkar, India on the growth turnpike, October 2003.
14. Vinita Nayar, Doing the city pride, The Hindu, 22/08/2009.
REPORTS AND SURVEYS
1. All Manipur Entrepreneurs' Association (AMEA), Economic Development
Towards 2001 AD.
2. Cashin, P. & R. Sabay, Regional Economic Growth and Convergence in
India, Finance and Development, IMF, March, 1996.
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Chandigarh.
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Chandigarh.
7. Government of Punjab, ESO, Statistical Abstract of Punjab,
Chandigarh, Annual Issues.
8. Government of India, Guidelines for the Preparation of Feasibility Reports,
Planning Commission, New Delhi.
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1986.
233
10. Ministry of Industry, India, Report of the Expert Committee on Small
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Bangalore, Bangalore, 1982.
PERIODICALS
1. Business India, Kolkata
2. Business World, New Delhi
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4. IBA Bulletin, Mumbai
5. Indian Manager, New Delhi
6. Industrial Herald, Chennai
7. Productivity, New Delhi
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234
JOURNALS
1. Akhouri, M.M.P., Self - Employment through Entrepreneurship
Development Strategies, an experiment in Assam, National Labour
Institute Bulletin, Jan.-June 1980, pp. 49-58.
2. Akhouri M.M.P. and Bhattacharya S.K., Profile of a Small Industry
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Economic and Political Weekly, Review of Management, Vol. VIII, No.
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Indian Journal of Public Administration, Vol. XX. No.3, July-
September, 1974.
7. Bhatia, B.S., New Industrial Entrepreneurs-Their Origins and Problems,
Journal of General Management, Autumn, 1974, pp. 72-73.
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Firms, California Management Review, California, 26(3), Spring 1984.
9. Chadha, V. and R.S. Johar, "Industrial Development of Punjab: Pattern,
Problems and Perspective", in PSE Economic Analyst, Amritsar, Vol. II,
Dec., 1980.
10. Chandra, Poojary M., "Small Scale Sector: Myth and Reality", Economic
and Political Weekly, Vol. XXXI, No.21, May, 25, 1996.
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Business Review, Harvard, July 1982, pp. 140.
235
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Industrial Relations, Delhi, Vol. 10, No.3, 1981.
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Publications, Hyderabad, 2010.
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XXIII, No.6 to 7, Jan- Sept 1998.
16. Jha, L.K., Role of New Entrepreneurs, Southern Economist, Vol. IX,
Annual Number, May I, 1970.
17. Lal, Sudarshan, What Do We Mean By Small Industries?, Yojana, Vol.
No. XVII Nos. 23 and 24, January 1974.
18. Left, N.H., Industrial Organization and Entrepreneurship in the
Developing Countries, Economic Development and Cultural Change,
July, 1978, pp. 616-21.
19. Mahima Rai, Horning Entrepreneurial Skills: Role of B Schools, MBA
Review - Special edition on Entrepreneurial Skills, Hyderabad, 2010.
20. Manalel, James, How Beautiful is Small, SEDME, Vol. XXIV (4), No.4
Dec 1997.
21. Maichique, M.A., Entrepreneurs, Champions and Technological
Innovation, Sloan Management Review, California, Winter, 1980,
pp. 56-76.
22. Mary Kay Copeland, Strategies for developing Entrepreneurship: Nature
or Nurture?, MBA Review - Special edition on Entrepreneurial Skills,
Hyderabad, 2010.
23. Mohamed, S. E, Marketing in 21st Century, Indian Journal of Marketing,
XXXII (11), 15-20.
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and Political Weekly, Vol. VII, No. 47, Bombay, Nov. 1974, pp. 98-105.
236
25. Papanek, G.F., The Development of Entrepreneurship, American
Economic Review, Vol. LII, May, 1962, p. 46.
26. Prasain, G.P., Devi Sancharita R.K., Women Traders in Manipur - A
Case Study, Indian Journal of Commerce, Vol. L. No. 193, Part IV, Dec
1997.
27. Sujatha Mukherjee, Profiling the Urban Women Micro - entrepreneurs in
India, The IUP Journal of Entrepreneurship Development, Volume II,
No.3, 2010.
28. Surinder Kapur, Raghavendra Rao and Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Genesis-
Creating value through entrepreneurial initiative, Vikalpa, April-June
2007.
29. Timmons, J.A., Characteristics and Role Demands of Entrepreneurship,
American Journal of Small Business, 3 (1987), pp. 5-17.
30. Tripathi, D., Occupational Mobility and Industrial Entrepreneurship in
India - Historical Analysis, Developing Economies, March 1981, pp. 52-
68.
31. Verma, M.C., Entrepreneurs Attitudes towards Organizing and Risk-
taking, Indian Psychological Review, 1978, pp. 213-29.
32. Vries, M.K.D., The Dark Side of Entrepreneurship, Harvard Business
Review, Harvard, Nov.-Dec. 1985, pp. 160-67.
33. Indian Journal of Commerce, New Delhi
34. Indian Journal of Entrepreneurship, Ahmedabad
35. Indian Journal of Marketing, New Delhi
36. Vikalpa, Ahmedabad
WEBSITES
1. www.oneindia.com, Entrepreneurship
237
2. How to Become a Successful Entrepreneur, Martin Ofori Atta,
infibeam.com
3. Successful Entrepreneurs–Those Who Have Made It Big,
www.franchiseindia.com
4. Top 10 entrepreneurs of India? www.answers.com
5. The Successful Entrepreneur’s Guidebook, www.flipkart.com
238
VITAE
L. Suresh Mallya is Undergraduate in Mechanical Engineering and Post
graduate in Management, Foreign Trade, Economics and Commerce, and M
Phil in Management. He has 16 years industrial experience in Production,
Marketing and Sales and 13 years experience in the academic field. Currently,
he is working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Management Studies
in SRM Valliammai Engineering College, Chennai.
PUBLICATION DETAILS
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Effectiveness of Microfinance Industry against the Backdrop of Global
Recession, Vol. No. 8, April 2010, SRM Management Digest, Page 165 – 169.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL
The Latest Trends in Retailing in Indian Scenario, Volume 4, Number 2,
July 2010, International Journal on Information Sciences and Computing, Page
62 - 68.
NATIONAL CONFERENCES
1. 29th and 30th April 2011, Creating Indian Entrepreneurs – Thrills & Thorns,
National Conference on Developing a Modern Entrepreneurial Society,
Business School, B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent University, Chennai.
2. 23rd April 2011, Indian Budding Entrepreneurs – the Imponderables,
National Conference on Innovation & Technology Management,
Department of Management Studies, RMK Engineering College, Chennai.
3. 5th March 2011, Microfinance: Present Predicament in India, National
Seminar on Managing for Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development,
Department of Management Studies, University of Madras, Chennai.
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239
4. 13th &14th August 2010, My days of research with Dr. MGR University,
National Conference on Academic Research, Department of Management
Studies, Dr. MGR University, Chennai.
5. 16th April 2010, Globalization: Developing Countries and India, National
Conference on Building Global Leadership, Department of Management
Studies, St. Joseph’s College Of Engineering, Chennai.
6. 10th April 2010, Microfinance – Need of the Hour, National Conference on
Financial Engineering and Knowledge Discovery, St. Mary’s School of
Management Studies, Chennai.
7. 12th March 2010, A study on Indian MSMEs, National Conference on
Winning Strategies for Business Development and Information Processing,
Department of Management Studies, Sakthi Mariamman Engineering
College, Chennai.
8. 31st March 2008, MSMEs – Backbone of Indian Industrial Sector, National
Conference on Empowering the Bottom of the Pyramid, Department of
Management Studies, Velammal Engineering College, Chennai.
9. 25th January 2008, Women Entrepreneurship through Gender Lens,
National Conference on Management Perspectives in Global Era,
Department of Management Studies, Dr. MGR University, Chennai.
10. 29th March 2007, Ancient Indian Advice for Modern Management,
National Seminar on Indian Ethos and Spiritual Values for Organisational
Management, Department of Management Administration, Annamalai
University, Chidambaram.
11. 8th March 2007, Employee Retention Strategies in the Changing New
Global Order, National Conference on Challenges to Globalization and
Strategies to Overcome them, Department of Management Studies, MNM
Jain Engineering College, Chennai.
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240
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES
1. 29th January 2010, Identifying Customers and their TQM requirements,
International Conference on Globalization and Consumer Protection,
Department of Business Administration, Kalasalingam University,
Srivilliputhur.
2. 29th January 2010, A Framework to Integrate Manufacturing and Service
Dimensions of Quality, International Conference on Globalization and
Consumer Protection, Department of Business Administration,
Kalasalingam University, Srivilliputhur.
3. 22nd – 24th December 2009, Contributing in Retailing in Indian Context,
International Conference on Retail Excellence, School of Management,
SRM University, Chennai.
4. 3rd & 4th April 2009, Global recession – Impact on Indian Human
Resources, International Conference on Transnational Business: Challenges
& Strategies, Department of Management Studies, Dr. MGR University,
Chennai.
5. 20th - 22nd December 2007, Entrepreneurship Development – Challenges
and Remedies, International Conference on Global Entrepreneurship,
School of Management, SRM University, Chennai.
6. 21st & 22nd September 2007, Exchange Rate Management Policy, Pros and
Cons to Indian Economy, International Conference on Global Business
Strategy in Competitive Environment, Sai Ram Engineering College,
Chennai.
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