TiEcon Delhi 2012
Entrepreneurship –Thriving in Chaos
The speakers of ‘Entrepreneurship- Thriving in Chaos,’ the theme of 2012, stressed upon the need of innovation in entrepreneurship and leapfrogging over the existing business models. Here are the messages from the experts who talked about various facets of entrepreneurship in India.
Britain welcomes Indian students, entrepreneurs & professionals
Britain is open to strengthening relations between India and Britain by welcoming Indian students, entrepreneurs and professionals to fuel growth, said Sir James Bevan, the British High Commissioner to India said in his keynote address at TiEcon Delhi 2012. He aso welcomed FDI in retail during the keynote as an opportunity for popular British brands like TESCO.
Lord Oaran Billimoria, Chairman, Cobra Beer Partnership Limited, makers of the world’s most favorite beer, followed in the same tone and brought out bright prospects for Indian entrepreneurs, IT professionals and students to go to the UO.
National policy for entrepreneurship needed to provide impetus
A National Policy for Entrepreneurship that covers key areas like Access to Capital, Scalability and involvement of State Governments is needed to create 30-40 million jobs.
“Having innovative ideas is the first step which needs to be followed by support including capital support”, said Arun Maira, Member, Planning Commission. “The other key aspect is that of scaling up. We don’t collaborate very well among each other, we get too stuck on our ideologies and very often don’t see eye to eye. That comes in the way of scaling up,” he added.
Filmmaker Shekhar Oapur, who is also a member of National Innovation Council, called entrepreneurship an act of chaos, which arises out of a dream. People who fund entrepreneurs work with structures, and this gives rise to a conflict. “We are slaves to keywords such as Innovation, Capital Structures, and Scalability. A dream is not a structure. So an entrepreneur spends his time fighting his way through the structure,” he said.
Dr Saurabh Srivastava, Chairman Emeritus, The Indus Entrepreneurs Delhi NCR chapter reiterated the need for having a National Entrepreneurship Policy in place, especially as it has the potential to create 30-40 million jobs and revenues over Rs 200 billion.
Entrepreneurs must see the problem as an opportunity
The panel on Education and Skill Development chaired by Sandeep Sinha, Managing Partner, Lumis Partners, said that this industry has enormous opportunities and entrepreneurs need to get their ideas into action and run them sustainably.
“There is money to be made in this segment. Those who can manage the aspiration of the individual will be able to crack it,” Dilip Chenoy, CEO F MD, National Skills Development Corporation, emphasizing the need for handholding people through placements. “Lack of teachers and trainers is a challenge. But entrepreneurs must see the problem as an opportunity,” he said.
Harsh Chitale, CEO, HCL Infosystems, said this segment may not be amenable to rapid scaling. “The key challenge is the ability to scale profitably,” he said. “The value proposition of an enterprise in the segment is not about training individuals. It is being able to give customers the right people who are fully trained and productive from the day one,” Chitale said.
Innovation—Key for large & small enterprises
Day-to-day interactions with customers, customer immersion and having long conversations with the customer holds the key to innovation, feels John Flannery, President & CEO, GE India
“Start with the customer, and then work backwards from what he wants. GE has always strived to do that,” he said in his keynote address on Innovation and Localization on the closing day at TiEcon Delhi 2012.
Innovation is critical not just for small enterprises but for large enterprises as well. “It’s very easy for those of us in large enterprises to believe what others say about us and get comfortable being the leaders. But we need to be paranoid,” he said.
As an example of listening to the customer, he illustrated the reverse innovation GE has done with one of their ultrasound machines for Indian Obstetrician-Gynaecologists in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Long weekends spent listening to Ob-Gyns and the problems they faced - lack of reliable power, little technical expertise, maintenance issues, and so on – culminated in a model with an average selling price less than a quarter of the topend models. GE plans to take the product to African and Latin American markets soon.
Other Event Highlights
Know why investors reject –if you are looking for money About 60% of business plans presented to investors are rejected after 30 minutes. Just 2% succeed in raising finance. Of course some businesses are big enough not to look for finance. For those they have to answer if they are ready, willing, able to establish abroad and go global.
Alpesh B Patel, the Dealmaker, UKTI Global Entrepreneur Programme talked about the most common issues which arise time and time again when it comes to basing yourself in the UK. Patel discussed on things Indian entrepreneurs need to go global.
Success Stories of Entrepreneurs
In a session titled ‘Road Not Taken’, entrepreneurs from different walks of life narrated how their dreams came true. Adil Hussain, MD, Harvest Gold, left a well paying job after IIT, to introduce a new bread into an already saturated market. Harvest Gold was born in 1993. Today the brand has 80% market share in Delhi and the company owns state-of-the-art proprietary technology of making bread. They plan to now expand their presence in India and abroad. The one axiom he says he goes by is, “Find a way. If the way doesn’t exist, make one.”
Gautam Bhardwaj, Co-founder & MD, Invest India Micro Pension Services, has worked in the area of pension reforms for over 15 years.
When he saw the huge need for pension for people who work as rickshaw pullers, run roadside eateries, work as vegetable and fruits vendors, he started Invest India Micro Pension Services. It is the only such venture in the world.
Sujata Sahu, founder of 17000 ft Foundation, is an avid trekker. Sahu and her husband were drawn to Ladakh and its people again and again. They started the not for profit, 17000 ft Foundation, to help schools in Ladakh. There are 963 schools in Ladakh, but most do not have resources and teachers. They are currently mapping the schools making it easier to mobilize resources to these schools.