The JnJ case:

The journey starts with a well-conducted survey that rightly identifies the deficiency in concepts and
practices that the modern entrepreneurs in a developing economy like India face. It then names
mostly 3 such areas:

1. Inadequate/complete lack of financial concepts

2. Unstructured or intuition-driven decision making
3. Predominance of a “boss” culture that impediments the growth of the businesses

Thereafter, the Poornatha team, under the able leadership of Mr. Bharath Sankar, set out to identify
the reasons/sources of these deficiencies and their effects on the ongoing businesses.

They then came up with an innovative training program for practicing entrepreneurs that aims to
help them add value to their businesses. The following were the salient features of the program:

1. Customized training that aimed at lucidity and bridged gaps between the classroom and the
practicality
2. The participant-centered approach that encouraged peer learning and increased indulgence
in the process
3. Inculcating a structured thinking decision making/problem-solving approach
4. Implementation of concepts in the real-life business atmosphere

The training program aimed at helping the 27 participants identify the fact that they were carrying
out the businesses in an impulsive manner and that they could make significant improvements in
their respective fields with the knowledge gained.

The simple idea of financial literacy and better understanding of important financial terms led to a
clarity about the current and future states of the businesses. Incorporating a business model opened
up the possibilities of better resilience and expansion. While implementation of a performance
related payment option for employees hiked the employees’ belongingness & motivation to work for
the firms.

IDEAS: For replicability and scalability of the program, we must understand the USP of the program
and identify the risks involved.
The program achieved success because the trainer was an entrepreneur himself. In order to scale
the process, involvement of many such minds would be imperative. Amalgamation of academia and
practitioners in the faculty is highly desirable. However, the alumnis of the program, who have been
positively benefitted by the program can become the trainers of tomorrow. Also, they would be
better acquainted with the pain-points of their peers.

Game Theory suggests that knowledge can be an important point of leverage in the coming times. It
would be a wrong assumption to make if batch after batch of entrepreneurs are expected to excel/
innovate using the same skill sets. Hence introducing customized sector-wise skill set training can
become the future strategy for the team. This will further make it difficult for any competitor to
replicate the idea.

Also, in order to remain relevant and beneficial to the entrepreneurs in the future, the program
must incorporate other perspectives, such as risk analysis and dealing with market uncertainties.

It is rightly said that entrepreneurship cannot be taught. It is a latent desire than one has to be born
with. The only way one helps somebody, in this case, is by empowering them with knowledge and
skills.