Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Submitted
TO Ms. Neha BY Mahima Sharma 50081 Priansha Periwal 50116 BBS 3 HR
ENTREPRENEURS
Regardless of who you are or what you have been, you can be what you want toyou be.have W.been, Clement Stone Regardless of who you are or what you can be what you want
to be. W. Clement Stone
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We owe a great many thanks to a great many people who helped and supported us during the project. The project CULTURAL DIVERSITY AMONG ENTREPRENEURS focuses on understanding the diversity that exists among the newly emerged breed of entrepreneurs.We made an effort to understand how people from completely different backgrounds and ways of life, but with a common drive to prove their mettle, end up being their own masters. Our deepest thanks to our college professor, Ms. Neha , who acted as a constant guide and mentor in the process of drafting of this project. We would also like to acknowledge the support and enthusiasm shown by our batch mates. We would also extend a heartfelt thanks to our family and well wishers without whom this project would have been a distant dream.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
OBJECTIVES INTRODUCTION YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS King Sidharth Farhad Acidwalla WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS Kiran Mazumdar Shaw Ekta Kapoor MINORITY ENTREPRENEURS Oprah Winfrey SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS Verghese Kurein Mohammad Yunus GREEN ENTREPRENEURS Pramod Chaudhari COLLEGE DROPOUTS Subhash chandra goel Azim premji CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY
OBJECTIVES
To study the cultural diversity existing among entrepreneurs and to analyse how people from completely diverse backgrounds can share a zeal to be their own bosses. To examine the cases of various entrepreneurs belonging to the same genre and analysing the similarities and differences that they shared. To individually analyze the journey of each entrepreneur to understand his/her idea and creativity at work and how he/she fought against the odds.
INTRODUCTION
If it really was a no-brainer to make it on your own in business there'd be millions of no-brained, harebrained, and otherwise dubiously brained individuals quitting their day jobs and hanging out their own shingles. Nobody would be left to round out the workforce and execute the business plan.
Entrepreneurship is all about the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled. Entrepreneurship is thus, the process of exploring the opportunities in the market place and arranging resources required to exploit these opportunities for long term gain. It is the process of planning, organizing, opportunities and assuming. Thus it is a risk of business enterprise. It may be distinguished as an ability to take risk independently to make utmost earnings in the market. It is a creative and innovative skill and adapting response to environment. Agility and the ability to respond quickly to change are seen by many as the key advantages that entrepreneurial businesses have over their more traditional multinational competitors. In general, entrepreneurs can make decisions quickly and change direction in response to a new opportunity or threat.
YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS
Start today, not tomorrow. If anything, you should have started yesterday. The earlier you start, the more time you have to mess up. Emil Motycka
THE TREND
Increasingly, youngsters are accepting the possibility that being on a payroll is not the only way to go. As more and more people embrace the opportunity of creating their own payrolls, the trend towards young entrepreneurship is on a significant increase. Still in their teens and fresh to face the world, these people are all set to provide answers to problems they believe exist, without sitting back expecting solutions to emerge out of thin air. As Naresh Ram of Book Lovers Program for Schools, which looks to spread the joy of reading to school children around the city, puts it There are more start-ups today than ever before. We live in exciting times.
CULTURAL ACCEPTANCE
Entrepreneurship as a viable career option is definitely a new trend in India. Our traditional understandings of success and well-being have always been undeniably linked with finding a stable job, one that will pay the bills on time. The traditional rejection of entrepreneurship can be blamed on a lack of discipline and a fear of failure.A main factor in encouraging entrepreneurship is how ones culture accepts failure and risk taking. It has a direct impact on whether people will start up or not. Economic backgrounds are also at play and gender bias exists but women are equally aware and are tapping the opportunities that come their way.It would help if people realise entrepreneurship isnt a cool tag to flaunt. Dont start-up until you are ready to face the challenges. If there was one mindset change that should happen, it would be that scalability makes all the difference between an entrepreneur and a small business owner. Whether it is because of the influx of information or the ease of reaching out to the global village, today, youngsters from around the world can choose to be their own boss and dig for their own answers.It is a question of finding solutions to a problem that moves you enough.Yet, the one thing that young entrepreneurs from around the world seem to agree upon is that entrepreneurship is a way of life. While Julia claims it is a way to see the world, Naresh believes success follows only if you give it everything. Whether it be in Russia or India, entrepreneurs seem to be the emerging trend in youth employment and for good reason. If we cannot answer our own problems, who will?
THE START - As an 11-year-old growing up in a backward sector Northern India, King Sidharth
and a few friends began organizing events and competitions for other children. They would make tickets and charge an entry fee, then award little prizes to whoever won. In an area where there wasnt much else to do, Sidharths first business was a big success. Seven years later, King Sidharth has just graduated from high school and he has already made a name for himself as one of Indias top young entrepreneurs. His primary work is in website development and design (see websites like MeditationRocks.us), but like many young entrepreneurs hes never content working on just one thing.
King is also a speaker on topics of entrepreneurship and spirituality. Hes currently writing an emagazine for teens (Friendz) and a book about the intersection of spirituality and science (Bhagvad Gita & the Law of Attraction). Hes also developing a movie that peeks into the lives of ten young entrepreneurs (Friendz: The Movie). Lastly, King is organizing a conference for teenagers called Createens. It will give young people an opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship, blogging, and more from world-wide experts.
When youre done with your vision, then you might ask for advice on minor things. You have to strike a balance. But even after asking people, follow what you think out of it, not what they think. Take Google and Yahoo. These two are different perspectives of solving the same problem: finding content on the internet. Yahoo keeps on listening to people. Google doesnt give a darn. They never ask you how their home page should look like. They never ask you anything and that is really behind their success. They do it themselves. Then later, they might ask you how they could improve it.
playing it fun. Thats behind every entrepreneur. If you go and ask, What makes you so passionate about your blog, your product, or your business? Its because they love changing it and they love how it all comes to form. Be yourself, nothing else will do.
A: Ive never sat on an idea. If I get something, I act on it. Business is all about taking the leap. Once you take the leap, then you can think about whats going to happen next. The larger the vision, the larger the need to pave your path with skill and confidence. But, a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step. That first step is the most important thing. There are many in the field and each have their own way and strategies. But one thing that I learned from my mom is to never try to copy anyone. Think of your own thing and move forward with that. Construct your own success with total confidence. I put my vision to test, I love to conceptualize and illustrate and the teams effort in creating awesomeness means a lot. Never look left or right. Look straight at the path you have paved. Follow your vision and have your ethics in place. Yes I get inspired by those who had the vision and the guts to give it a shape. I love to read success stories as they teach you that failing is a part of the process and one must not deter.
Q: YOU HAVE A SUCCESSFUL AND GROWING COMPANY, YET YOUVE DECIDED TO STAY IN COLLEGE. WHY?
A: Education never goes to waste. I know I can put the things I learn in college to use in my business. Business is something thats never certain, theres always a risk. But, if you have your education in place, its going to help you analyze challenges and deal with them. Plus, I think a few de grees to your credit sure feels good. I know there is a view that structured learning is not needed. I feel that education can never harm you and one can put it to use in more ways than one. Its not just about making money. But while formal education will make you a living, self education will make you a fortune. If you want to really learn something and make something of yourself, self education is crucial. We learn from glory and from our own failures too. If you learn and make efforts to manage your time properly and if you have a proper business set up, your business can thrive while youre in college. College takes a lot of time, but I have my like minded team who can make up for me at any given moment. My team has always supported me and my parents have always given me solid, unconditional support and thats what I appreciate the most. I definitely havent done all of this on my own.
WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform. ~Diane Mariechild
The business landscape is always changingtechnological advances, corporate downsizing, restructuring, and telecommuting have reshaped the marketplace. Although these improvements have a great impact on our working environment, perhaps the most notable trend has been the rapid growth in the number of women-owned businesses. According to the Center for Womens Business Research (2011), three quarters of women-owned businesses are those wherein women own a majority share, and each year, women-owned businesses generate $1.9 trillion in sales. In fact, additional statistics from the Center for Womens Business Research reveal impressive gains for women in the marketplace: An estimated 10.1 million companies are owned by women. Women-owned businesses employ 13 million workers. The Push Behind the Numbers Whats driving these significant numbers? Women have made remarkable progress in the workplace, but they still face a variety of obstacles in terms of opportunities for career advancement. Thus,entrepreneurship has become a very viable option for women. One out of eleven women owns her own business and is responsible for employing one out of seven workers. It appears that much of the push behind the increase in women-owned businesses is the desire for independencein large numbers, women have chosen entrepreneurism as their route to financial freedom. As the figures indicate, many women have been able to channel their drive for success into starting and running their own businesses. The Pull Exerted by This Trend Women entrepreneurs are bringing a fresh perspective to the business world, which creates a new generation of inspirational role models. The ideas generated by this dynamic force translate into innovations in the marketplace that benefit both other businesses and individual consumers. In many ways, we are a society in which money talks. As women gain more economic power through the success of their own business ventures, they will exert greater influences on the financial, social, and political institutions that will shape the future for all of us.
As a woman entrepreneur, how has it been for you? Basically, I am in a very different field. I was unique in many ways. I was a woman entrepreneur and a biotech pioneer. I never looked at myself as a woman entrepreneur because I was always painted as a very different breed of entrepreneur.I had the challenges as a pioneer and I never looked at the challenges as a woman entrepreneur. So as a pioneer, I have been treated very differently. After succeeding, I don't think anyone today sees me as a woman entrepreneur. Why do you think there are not many successful woman entrepreneurs? We see many women entrepreneurs today when it comes to small businesses. But where we do not see many success stories is in large businesses. I think it stems from lack of self confidence.Most women feel that they have limitations and they are not cut out to hold such large businesses. That has to change. It is heartening to see family businesses are encouraging their daughters which was not so in the past. That is a good sign.There are lots of executives but not many taking leadership roles. That is why I feel excited to see women like Mallika Srinivasan (CEO of Tractors and Farm Equipment), who is heading a manufacturing entity. Yes, we need to see more entrepreneurs handling big businesses. What would be your advice to young entrepreneurs? First and foremost, I want to tell them that there are no short-cuts to success. I encourage young entrepreneurs because I feel India can grow only through entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is the only job multiplier.In India, there are so many opportunities for young people to start businesses. It is heartening to see so many new ideas.
How does Biocon Chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw define her entrepreneurial journey? It is a journey from failure to failure, and succeeding in the end, said Kiran. In an inspiring talk, Kiran shared her thoughts on some of the key aspects of entrepreneurship. On Risk-taking: Entrepreneurs are inherent risk-takers, because these are people who believe they can transform. However, risk taking is an act of intelligence and not bravado. It is important to learn how to manage these risks and mitigate these risks. On challenging status quo: Never accept that what worked before will work again. Always think of how you can make it better. Once you ask Why not?, you will discover powerful answers. On Innovation: Innovation is meaningful only if can be translated to commercial use. Innovation is not about ideating. Ideating is only the starting point. India has huge challenges, which offers us huge opportunities to innovate. On her experience: Biotech is choked with regulations, and any new drug development comes with huge risks and high failure rates. But you dont give up because you want new answers, you want to find that one drug that can cure fatal cancers.
EKTA KAPOOR
Ekta Kapoor has long held the title of the Queen of the Indian Television Industry. While her soaps have been known to be over-the-top and indigestible at many points over the past two decades, few can challenge the truth in her title, with over 15,000 hours of television content on the airwaves since the inception of Balaji Telefilms.
The Entrepreneur
Over 80 distinct television programmes have been churned out of her production house across six different languages; she also has 11 films under her belt as of 2011, with three more scheduled for release in the same year. How did she so successful as a woman entrepreneur and reach where she is today?
The K-phase:
THE RISE - The early noughties of the new century saw the rise of shows that have left deep and
lasting impacts on the Indian psyche. Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii, both launched in 2000, have arguably been the most popular. Viewers were introduced to the soap opera in its most dramatic, intense form, with picture quality previously unknown in the grainy realm of Doordarshan and other networks of the 90s. Balaji Telefilms success skyrocketed within just months, it seemed with other Kserials: Kalash(2001), Kaahin Kissii Roz (2001), Kkusum (2001), Kabhii Sautan Kabhii Sahelii (2002), and a host of others.
By 2005, Balaji Telefilms had something of a monopoly over Indian televisions with shows across all major networks and channels and had diversified to the Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Telugu sectors as well. She had become, by this time, Joint Managing Director, Director and Member of the Shareholders Committee of Balaji Telefilms as well. All was not well though: the monopoly led to viewers at large being over-saturated, in a sense.
THE DECLINE - By 2008, the popularity of a number of her soaps began to decline. TRPs
decreased to a massive extent for her landmark show, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, which by this time was felt by the public at large overstretched and hard to digest, with such plot devices as multiple deaths, kidnappings, and even reincarnations. While the lead character had, by the time, been played by a different actress than the one the show began with, the lights were dimmed; the show was taken off the air. A slew of cancellations followed that year: Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii, her other pet project; and Kasautii Zindagii Kay, another popular show, which began in 2001. Things had begun to seem grim well before 2008 though, but ever the entrepreneur, Ekta started to branch out Balaji Telefilms influence in other spheres.
Notorious for her silence about her personal life, we see only the professional, business side of heran impressive, inspirational figure with just the amount of flexibility required to adapt to the changing needs of her audience of nearly 20 years.
MINORITY ENTREPRENEURS
It doesnt matter who you are, or where you came from. The ability to triumph begins with you. Always. ~Oprah Winfrey
OPRAH WINFREY
In a career filled with firsts and superlatives, Oprah has managed to amass a sizable fortune, become one of the most powerful people in the entertainment industry, and yet maintain a sense of humility and compassion we all should strive to achieve.
Broadcasting Pioneer:
Born in a small town in Mississippi in 1954 and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, Oprah began her career in broadcasting at age 17 at radio station WVOL. By 19, she was anchoring the news at WTFV-TV, both the the first African-American woman and the youngest person ever to do so. In 1976 she moved to Baltimore, where she co-anchored WJZ-TV's Six O'Clock News. She soon made the switch to doing talk shows, hosting the local People Are Talking.
Entertainment Entrepreneur:
Not content to work for somoeone else, in 1988, Oprah founded her own production facility, Harpo Studios ( that's "Oprah" spelled backwards). Since then, it has grown into Harpo, Inc., which employs around 250 full-time people in television and film production, magazine publishing, and online media. She is also co-founder of Oxygen Media, which operates the Oxygen Network, a cable network for women reaching more than 54 million viewers.
Movies:
In 1985 Oprah gave a breakout performance as "Sofia" in Stephen Spielberg's The Color Purple, garnering both Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. She has also acted in several made-for-TV movies. In 1990, she founded Harpo Films to work on projects based on contemporary and classic literature, such as 1998's Beloved, based on Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and costarring Oprah and Danny Glover. Harpo has a long-term deal with ABC to produce the "Oprah Winfrey Presents" telefilms.
O Magazine:
In 2000, in partnership with Hearst Magazines, Oprah launched O, The Oprah Magazine, a monthly magazine that has become one of today's top women's lifestyle publications. It now has a circulation of more than two million monthly readers (more than Martha Stewart Living or Vogue) and Fortune called it "the most successful startup ever in the industry". In 2004, she launched O at Home, a seasonal home design magazine.
Internet Innovator:
With three million users per month generating 45 million page views, Oprah.com is one of the top women's lifestyle websites, covering a variety of topics, as well as providing in-depth resources about the show. It's also the home of Oprah's Book Club, now the largest book club in the world with more than half a million members. It's also the home of Live Your Best Life, an multimedia section featuring Oprah's personal life stories, life lessons, and an interactive workbook.
Private Life:
For a very public person, Oprah lives a remarkably private life. That's by design. Harpo employees are barred from talking or writing about her personal or business affairs and those of her company for the rest of their lives. Only once did a former employee, Elizabeth Coady, challenge it in court. Coady lost and Oprah's business and personal life remain remarkably private. Her companion, Stedman Graham, is a prominent management and marketing consultant with two best-selling books to his name.
Philanthropy:
In 1987 Oprah created The Oprah Winfrey Foundation "to support the education and empowerment of women, children and families in the United States and around the world." The charity has awarded millions of dollars to organizations throughout the world to improve education and health care. In 1997 she founded Oprah's Angel Network to inspire people to make a difference in the lives of others. So far the group has raised $27 million almost entirely from audience donations.
In the end, though, it's not all about the money. From her philanthropic efforts to the inspirational and educational nature of her shows to her book club to her Live Your Best Life program, it's clear that Oprah is all about two things: living a great life for yourself and making a difference in the world. She seems to have mastered both.
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS
a Rare Breed
Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry. -Bill Drayton (Ashoka Founder)
What is a Social Entrepreneur? Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to societys most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change.Rather than leaving societal needs to the government or business sectors, social entrepreneurs find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution, and persuading entire societies to take new leaps. Social entrepreneurs often seem to be possessed by their ideas, committing their lives to changing the direction of their field. They are both visionaries and ultimate realists, concerned with the practical implementation of their vision above all else. Each social entrepreneur presents ideas that are user-friendly, understandable, ethical, and engage widespread support in order to maximize the number of local people that will stand up, seize their idea, and implement with it. In other words, every leading social entrepreneur is a mass recruiter of local changemakersa role model proving that citizens who channel their passion into action can do almost anything.Over the past two decades, the citizen sector has discovered what the business sector learned long ago: There is nothing as powerful as a new idea in the hands of a first-class entrepreneur. Why "Social" Entrepreneur? Just as entrepreneurs change the face of business, social entrepreneurs act as the change agents for society, seizing opportunities others miss and improving systems, inventing new approaches, and creating solutions to change society for the better. While a business entrepreneur might create entirely new industries, a social entrepreneur comes up with new solutions to social problems and then implements them on a large scale. Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to societys most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change.
VERGHESE KURIEN
Verghese Kurien (26 November 1921 9 September 2012) was an Indian engineer and renowned social entrepreneur, best known as the "Father of the White Revolution", for his 'billion-litre idea' or Operation Flood the world's biggest agricultural development programme. The operation took India from being a milk-deficient nation, to the largest milk producer in the world, surpassing the USA in 1998, with about 17 percent of global output in 201011, which in 30 years doubled the milk available to every person. Dairy farming became Indias largest self-sustaining industry. He made the country self-sufficient in edible oils too later on,taking head-on the powerful and entrenched oil supplying lobby.
PERSONAL LIFE
Born on 26 November 1921 at Calicut, Madras Presidency, British India (now Kozhikode, Kerala) into a Syrian Christian family, he would later turn an Atheist. His father was a civil surgeon in Cochin (Kochi, Kerala). He went on to marry Molly, the daughter of a friend of his father. He graduated in Physics from Loyola College, Madras in 1940 and then obtained his Bachelors in mechanical engineering from the University of Madras. After completing his degree, he joined the Tata Steel Technical Institute, Jamshedpur from where he graduated in 1946. Later, as Kurien would say in his own words, "I was sent to the United States to study dairy engineering (on the only government scholarship left) at Michigan State University. I cheated a bit
though, and studied metallurgical and nuclear engineering, disciplines that I believed were likely to be of far greater use to my soon-to-be Independent country and, quite frankly, to me." He did however train for dairy technology later on, on a government sponsorship to New Zealand, a bastion of cooperative dairying then, when he had to learn to set up the Amul dairy.
CAREER
Kurien arrived back on 13 May 1949, after his master's degree, and was quickly deputed to the Government of India's experimental creamery, at Anand in Gujarat's Kheda district by the government and rather half-heartedly served out his bond period against the scholarship given by them. He had already made up his mind to quit mid-way, but was pursuaded to stay back at Anand byTribhuvandas Patel (who would later share the Magsaysay with him) who had brought together Kheda's farmers as a cooperative union to process and sell their milk, a pioneering concept at the time. The Amul pattern of cooperatives became so successful, that in 1965 Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri created the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) to replicate the program nationwide citing Kurien's "extraordinary and dynamic leadership" upon naming him chairman. As the 'Amul dairy experiment' was replicated in Gujarat's districts in the neighbourhood of Anand , Kurien set all of them up under GCMMF in 1973 to sell the combined produce of the dairies under a single Amul brand. Today GCMMF sells Amul products not only in India but also overseas. He quit the post of GCMMF Chairman in 2006 following disagreement with the GCMMF management. When the National Dairy Development Board expanded the scope of Operation Flood to cover the entire country in its Phase 2 program in 1979: Kurien founded the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA). Kurien played a key role in many other organizations, like chairing the Viksit Bharat Foundation, a body set up by the President of India. Kurien was mentioned by the Ashoka Foundation as one of the eminent present Day Social Entrepreneurs. Kurien's life story is chronicled in his memoir I Too Had a Dream. Interestingly Kurien, the person who revolutionized the availability of milk in India did not drink milk himself. Nevertheless, the work of Kurien & his team in India took India from a milk importer to a milk & milk-products exporting nation within the span of 2 decades.
MOHAMMAD YUNUS
Muhammad Yunus has long been a hero of the social entrepreneur community for his work in creating the Grameen Bank, and transforming the micro-credit movement. Now that he has been awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for this work, Yunus has been virtually canonised by the social entrepreneur movement. Not that he is going to rest up on the conference circuit as a living saint Yunus has now put his hat into the political ring in Bangladesh ... a move which was often commented on in the different workshops at the Forum (with several participants expressing fears that the most prominent hero of the social entrepreneur movement would be tainted by the political involvement).
Many of the problems in the world remain unresolved because we continue to interpret capitalism too narrowly. In this narrow interpretation we create a one-dimensional human being to play the role of entrepreneur. We insulate him from other dimensions of life, such as, religious, emotional, political dimensions. He is dedicated to one mission in his business life --- to maximize profit. He is supported by masses of one-dimensional human beings who back him up with their investment money to achieve the same mission... I think things are going wrong not because of "market failure". It is much deeper than that. Let us be brave and admit that it is because of "conceptualisation failure". More specifically, it is the failure to capture the essence of a human being in our theory. Dr. Muhammad Yunus
Another enterprise, Grameen Shakti, sells around 1,500 home solar-panel systems per month throughout rural Bangladesh and is growing 15% a year without subsidies. Yunus is also developing a partnership between Grameen and the French company Danone to make a nutritious and inexpensive baby formula. Next on his list are low-cost eye care and rural hospitals with video-conferencing between villagers and doctors in Dhaka
THE SPARK - Yunus told his story and that of the bank in the book "Banker to the Poor," coauthored by him and Alan Jolis. In the book, Yunus recalls that in 1974 he was teaching economics at a Chittagong University in southern Bangladesh, when the country experienced a terrible famine in which thousands starved to death. "We tried to ignore it," he says. "But then skeleton-like people began showing up in the capital, Dhaka. Soon the trickle became a flood. Hungry people were everywhere. Often they sat so still that one could not be sure whether they were alive or dead. They all looked alike: men, women, children. Old people looked like children, and children looked like old people. The thrill he had once experienced studying economics and teaching his students elegant economic theories that could supposedly cure societal problems soon left him entirely. As the famine worsened he began to dread his own lectures. "Nothing in the economic theories I taught reflected the life around me. How could I go on telling my students make believe stories in the name of economics? I needed to run away from these theories and from my textbooks and discover the real-life economics of a poor person's existence."
THE BEGINNING - Yunus went to the nearby village of Jobra where he learned the economic
realities of the poor. Yunus wanted to help, and he cooked up several plans working with his students. He found that one of his many ideas was more successful than the rest: offering people tiny loans for self-employment. Grameen Bank was born and an economic revolution had begun. Grameen Bank has reversed conventional banking wisdom by focusing on women borrowers, dispensing of the requirement of collateral and extending loans only to the very poorest borrowers. In fact, to qualify for a loan from the Grameen Bank, a villager must demonstrate that her family owns less than one half acre of land.
THE ACHIEVEMENT - The bank has provided $4.7 billion dollars to 4.4 million families in
rural Bangladesh. With 1,417 branches, Grameen provides services in 51,000 villages, covering three
quarters of all the villages in Bangladesh. Yet its system is largely based on mutual trust and the enterprise and accountability of millions of women villagers. Today, more than 250 institutions in nearly 100 countries operate micro-credit programs based on the Grameen Bank model, while thousands of other micro-credit programs have emulated, adapted or been inspired by the Grameen Bank. According to one expert in innovative government, the program established by Yunus at the Grameen Bank "is the single most important development in the third world in the last 100 years, and I don't think any two people will disagree."
GREEN ENTREPRENEURS
It is a blessed thing that in every age someone has had
the individuality enough and courage enough to stand by his own convictions.
What is a green entrepreneur? Green: A product, service, or process that either benefits the environment or reduces the negative environmental impact of existing products, services, or processes. Entrepreneur: A person who is willing to launch a new venture or enterprise and accept full responsibility for the outcome. Putting these together, a green entrepreneur is someone who starts a business to make or offer a product, service, or process that benefits the environment. Much of green is about solving old problems in new ways. For example:
How can we create energy without polluting the environment? How can we produce or sell goods using as few resources as possible? How can we keep our houses warm in winter and cool in summer without burning fossil fuels?
How can we build vehicles that use as little gas as possible? Green entrepreneurs are people who have (or seek out) the knowledge, initiative, and resources to solve these problems or find innovative ways to bring existing solutions to market. Why Become a Green Entrepreneur? Some entrepreneurs start a green business primarily because of their passion for the environment. They see a need for an environmentally-friendly solution, and they work toward creating a product or service that meets the need. They might be targeting a market niche, but the desire to do something good for the planet is what really drives them.
For others, helping the environment is an added benefit, but not necessarily the main motivation. Some scientists and innovators are naturally curious about finding new ways to create things. Others see a market need that just happens to have an environmentally-friendly solution. For example, running a manufacturing company that uses energy-efficient and low-waste processes is good for the environment, but it can also be cost-effective.
Still others have discovered that there is a "green" application to a product that already exists. For example, a manufacturer of liquid pumps and flow valves designed to pump and control the flow of oil or gas might realize that these products can also be marketed to utilities or wastewater treatment plans to conserve water, or to channel it efficiently. Marketing an existing product to a new type of customer is a more incremental, less risky approach to green entrepreneurship.
PRAMOD CHAUDHARI
It has been 25 years of entrepreneurship for Pramod Chaudhari. A successful entrepreneur, he describes his experience as an exciting journey full of ups and downs. After his engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Pramod Chaudhari worked for a multinational company for a few years. Later, he decided to start his own venture. Passionate about green technologies, he established Praj Industries in 1984.
It was not an easy ride. He failed many times but that did not deter him from taking new initiatives and moving ahead. His never-say-die attitude and optimism made sure he built a world-renowned company. Under his leadership, Praj focusses on offering innovative solutions to add value in bio-ethanol, bio-diesel, brewery plants and process equipment and systems for customers worldwide. Praj has been creating innovative technology platforms to make biofuels a sustainable choice toward making a greener planet.Praj was recently conferred the 'Forbes Best Under a Billion Company' in Asia, for the second consecutive year, based on its consistent growth and profitability over three years.Chaudhari has also contributed to the National Biofuels Policy as a member of the Committee on Development of Biofuels, Planning Commission for introduction of renewable fuels to India. He believes that innovation and entrepreneurship must go hand in hand to build sustainable solutions. Stressing the importance of intrapreneurships, he says, young managers within a company, who have good skills and ideas must be encouraged to develop their ideas.
Do you face a talent, manpower shortage? We do not face any shortage. There is a huge talent available in tier-2 cities in Maharashtra and in other parts of the country. You talked about intrapreneurs? How do you plan to encourage intrapreneurship? We encourage our own employees to come up with ideas, take risks, be responsible to the bottomline. It could be a new design, new business model, etc. I feel this generation is very lucky as there is a lot of support. There are lot of government agencies and financial institutions to support them. When I started there was hardly anything. So it depends on the risk-taking ability of entrepreneurs. So they should become intrapreneurs as there is a safety net in an organisation. So intrapreneurship is not a bad idea. It's not inferior to entrepreneurship. They may be as good as entrepreneurs.The innovative contribution of entrepreneurs is supported by intrapreneurs to make a successful organisation. Praj has launched the 'Maha-Intrapreneur Award' to recognise the efforts of intrapreneurs.
There is too much focus on services than product development in India. What are your views? Service is not a bad idea. It requires lesser capital. The growth prospects, however, will be limited in terms of services. Service is good to create more employment. For instance, if an entrepreneur wants to expand business in another place he must find an entrepreneur there and make him expand business, that way more people get involved without hiking his overhead costs. To develop products, you need a lot of capital. But there are agencies and venture capitalists that can help you with he capital as well. However, making a product or a prototype takes a long time or you need a lot of patience. There is a gap in the funding for many start-ups as angel funding dries up and VCs find it small-ticket business. So many technologies don't see the light of the day. The gap between angel funding and VCs needs to be bridged. What are the reasons for your success? I really don't know. I don't have a recipe for success. I believe that one has to be very lucky and be at the right place at the right time. You have to go on trying, put in a lot of effort till Lady Luck smiles at you. I have hit the bottom twice but my optimism helped me survive. What would be your advice to entrepreneurs? The decision to become an entrepreneur itself is a great achievement. Creating value for whatever product or service is good. However, the focus must be to offer a solution for the society, solutions to make this planet a better place
COLLEGE DROPOUTS
The question isnt whos going to let me; its who is going to stop me. ~Ayn Rand
SUBHASH CHANDRA
Serial Entrepreneur
It is hard to say what the real business of Subhash Chandra is. He left his studies after completing his 12th and most people refer to him as a media mogul, but that hardly does justice to his interests in variety of businesses, which form part of the Essel group. Managing a diversified conglomerate is not such a unique distinction. What sets apart Subhash Chandra from the rest is that he was the pioneer in most categories and he saw opportunities in new areas, which was not visible to many established business houses.
THE JOURNEY
Born in a business family in Haryana, Chandras family was engaged in rice trading. When Subhash Chandra took the reins of the family business, the family was in debt of Rs five lakhs. He along with his brothers got into rice trading and exports. His company used to procure and supply rice to Food Corporation of India. He earned a fortune exporting rice to Russia. On being asked pointedly by the interviewer, did he really make a huge fortune in that contract, he admitted that in 1983, there was an income tax claim of Rs 150 crore on his company. He invested the capital created to enter the packaging business. Essel packaging was the first company in India to introduce laminated tubes for packaging toothpastes. Seemingly, packaging appears far removed from rice trading. Yet, Mr Chandra informed that while storing rice in open yards, he got exposed to variety of packaging materials and caught his attention. Today, Essel packaging is a world leader in laminated tubes with factories in all the five continents. It has a 38 % market share in toothpaste packaging worldwide. The next venture of Subhash Chandra was Esselworld, Indias first amusement park. Although not very profitable, this gave him an insight into the family entertainment business, which had a big role in days to come. He confessed in the interview that the Maharashtra government of the day was very oppressive and bureaucratic, compelling him to look outside the amusement park business for growth. He wanted to enter a business where there will be minimum hindrance between the entertainer and the entertained. This made him look at the television business. Zee TV was the first Indian language channel on the satellite television. This went on to be a huge success. Subhash Chandra and ZEE did face a lot of difficulties in dealing with Rupert Murdoch and later even broke away from STAR. Zee lost its pole position in the General entertainment space in
Hindi to Star Plus. Even today it is among the top 3 GE channel along with Star Plus and Colors. Zee TV network today has over 15 channels in many languages and as per Subhash Chandra, as a network they have the largest number of viewers and market-share in India. Not content to sit on his laurels, after the Zee success, Subhash Chandra wanted to enter the satellite communications business, through Agrani. This was around the time when Motorola was launching the Iridium project. This technology had its inherent problems and could not compete with the cellular phone. Although Agrani, never saw the light of the day, this experiment led to his entering the Direct-to-home TV business, through Dish TV. Once again, the first private business house to enter the DTH business. Among all the listed companies of Essel Group, Dish TV has the highest market capitalization. Subhash Chandra also pioneered the online lottery in India. Playwin had its brief period of success, later got mired in various legal troubles, as many states banned lotteries. Essel group also has a moderately successful newspaper in DNA. It has been able to make a mark of its own in the crowded space. Subhash Chandra claims that during this recessionary times, DNA is doing better than others because of its low advertising tariffs. One failure that may be causing Subhash Chandra a great deal of heartburn must be the Indian Cricket League (ICL). ICL had most of the ingredients to become hugely successful, except for the blessings of BCCI. Indian Premier League (IPL) which has borrowed many ideas from ICL has been a monster hit, in its two editions. Through means, fair and foul, ICL has been decimated by BCCI, so much so, that some of the best players it had contracted have left ICL. Subhash Chandra could have become the Kerry Packer of India if ICL had become successful. Nobody can refute that ICL was the first T20 league in India and credit must go to Subhash Chandra. Now, Chandra is itching to move on to something more exciting. He is also keen to enter businesses which are more annuities like, rather than the high-maintenance media business which requires continuous management attention. One idea his group is working on is in the area of creating a chain of wellness clinics across the country. Subhash Chandra has his share of critics. He is considered a very mean competitor. He also has a poor record of professionalizing the management of his share market boom, Zee stock was among the favorites of the market. It got closely linked to Ketan Parekh. When the bust happened, many an investor incurred heavy losses in the stock, which they have not recovered to this day. He has had failed ventures too like Zee computer education and KIDZEE.
Yet, one cannot but admire this entrepreneur who has been spotting new opportunities and creating successful businesses, one after the other
AZIM PREMJI
Wipro Products Ltd was run by Premjis father. In 1966, PRemji was completing his degree in engineering at Stanford University when his father died. He later was able to finish getting his degree in electrical engineering with correspondence courses. .Just 21, Premji took over the family oil business. Under Premjis leadership Wipro Corporation began to expand and diversify. General Electric used Wipro to manufacture light bulbs, shampoo, baby care products and powder. By 1975, Premji started Wipro Fluid Power to make hydraulic cylinders and also truck tippers. In the 1980s IMBM was kicked out of India creating a vacuum in the technology field. With Pemjis interest in electrical engineering, Wipro was a natural entry into the IT field. Wipro was issued a special license from Sentinel. They began manufacturing hardware for computers and then branched out to software development. Wipro is the largest outsourcing company in India and its research and development unit is the world largest independent group. Under Pemjis guidance,Wipro grew from a $1.5 million oil company to a $662 million diversified conglomerate.
Premji believes in growth through delivering value with integrity to the customer . Wipro
became the first Indian company to implement the Six Sigma program. It was also achieved SEI CMM Level 5 (the first software company to earn this distinction), and it also achieved PCMM Level 5 (People Capability Maturity Model), the worlds first organization to gain this level. Premji has been awarded numerous honors. Honors in 2000 included an honorary doctorate by both the Manipal Academy of Higher Education in India and Roorkee and the Business Man of the Year by Business India. In 2003, Forbes named Premji to two distinguished lists one of the 10 people globally, who have the most power to effect change and one of the 25 most powerful business leaders outside the US, Also in 2003, and Business Week had Premjis picture on its October cover titled Indias Tech King. In 2004, his honors included top 25 billionaires who have done most to bring about significant and lasting social, political or cultural changes by the Financial Times, and as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2005, he received one of his countries highest honors for a civilian, the Padmabhushana. He is a member of the Prime Ministers Advisory Committee for Information Technology in India.
CSR - Established by Premji in 2001, the Azim Premji Foundation focuses on quality education to
build a just, equitable and humane society. 1.8 million children are partaking in various programs. The Foundations does not focus primarily on Information Technology education, but instead it tries to improve the quality of general education, especially in rural schools. Over 70 educational CDs have been created for Indian schools.
CONCLUSION
"Innovation is the specific tool of entrepreneurs, the means by which they exploit change as an opportunity for a different business or a different service. It is capable of being presented as a discipline, capable of being learned, capable of being practiced. Entrepreneurs need to search purposefully for the sources of innovation, the changes and their symptoms that indicate opportunities for successful innovation. And they need to know and to apply the principles of successful innovation."
- Peter F. Drucker
The importance of innovation and creativity to help any business enterprise flourish cannot be over-emphasized, but it is equally important to strike a balance between the ideas which an entrepreneurial mind conceives and implementing them just in the desired way. When we talk about various players in business, hailing from different backgrounds and cultures, it is not only an amalgamation of their ideas but also the spirit and ethos of their cultures which blend together and formulate brilliant products and services, the world has ever seen. We have very strongly realized that the concepts and theories of creativity, innovation, strategic management and the likes , not really verbatim but somehow do form an extremely vital part of any entrepreneurs journey towards success. Following your dreams might not always make you earn millions but the sense of satisfaction of being your own boss brings people joy and self sufficiency and a sense of contributing to the world. In a nutshell, the cultural diversity of entrepreneurs teaches us that apart from success or money or fame, its about a the zeal to follow your passion and do something out-of-the box that connects these different people.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
www.entrepreneur.com/tsu/index.html yourstory.in/ www.youthkiawaaz.com/.../top-10-women-entrepreneurs-and-leaders.. bx.businessweek.com/social-entrepreneurship/ www.muhammadyunus.org/ www.iseek.org/.../green/.../what-green-entrepreneurship. www.forbes.com/.../business-tips-from-college-dropouts-