What does it take to be an entrepreneur? Luck or Pluck? Chandran Iyer talks to top Management Gurus and also some young entrepreneurs and tries to find out what is it that makes them choose a risky road of entrepreneurship instead of taking up a good and secure job that fetches a regular monthly salary.
Do for a Year What Others Won’t ,
Then Live for a Lifetime as Others Can’t
— an unknown entrepreneur
In 1981, a South Indian guy working as an employee in a computer firm decided to chuck his job and become an entrepreneur . His dream was to start a world class Information Technology firm. He had lofty dreams and grand vision, but practically zero bank balance. Seeing his passion, his wife came to his help and gave him Rs 10,000/ – which she had saved for a rainy day. This man with the help of six other colleagues started a software firm. Today this man is regarded as the Bill Gates of India and his firm is as respected globally as the Microsoft. You have guessed it right. That man is none other than Narayana Murthy. If you had invested Rs 10,000 in Infosys shares in 1992, you would be richer by Rs 1.5 crore (Rs 15 million) today. Murthy is the epitome of pinnacle of success as an entrepreneur.
In 1949, a young Gujarati boy from Chorwad in Gujarat was working as a petrol pump attendant in Aden in Yemen. His job was to service the ships bunkering for diesel and lubricants. As he spent his time doing the lowly job of filling fuel in the ships with clammy hands, his dream were soaring up in the sky. This man who could not utter a word in English without fumbling was dreaming to set up a world class refinery of his own. His father who was a middle class employee was shocked at what he thought was his sons pipe dream and he did his best to instill some practical wisdom into his son to get a well paying job which will give him security and regular paychecks. But this Gujarati boy who was not even a graduate had his own crazy ideas of entrepreneurship. This man Dhirubhai Ambani is no more , but the conglomerate which he built is a living testimony of his vision, passion, dream and entrepreneurial skill. The company Reliance Industry which he founded is the largest private sector conglomerate company headquartered at Mumbai. The company is largest by annual turnover of US$58.5 billion and market capitalization of US$78.2 billion for the fiscal year ending in March 2011 making it one of the largest India’s private sector companies, being ranked at 264th position in the Fortune Global 500 (2009) and at the 126th position in the Forbes Global 2000 list (2010).
But not all people who have taken this route have their names etched in the history books. Many of them have ended up battered , bruised and fractured with disappointments, financial disaster and a deep sense of regret for having taken this risky venture. They have not only eroded their capital but have got themselves sucked into the whirlpool of debt and misery. Hounded by the recovery agents of banks, angel investors who pumped money into their project and their own relatives and friends who loaned them the money, these people could be seen running away from their own self. IF one were to examine the statistics of success in entrepreneurship, then the picture is not rosy. This is because 50 percent of businesses fail in the first year and 95 percent fail within five years.
The Dotcom burst
Most of the entrepreneurs who burnt their fingers were during the dotcom boom when every Tom Dick and Harry who owned a PC and had net connection and a soaring ambition thought that he could be another Sabir Bhatia, the founder of hotmail. During that mad rush Companies were seeing their stock prices shoot up if they simply added an “e-” prefix to their name and/or a “.com” to the end, which one author called “prefix investing”.
Entrepreneurs having nothing more than a PowerPoint presentation of some internet business idea were laughing their way to the banks with investors ready to pump in millions of rupees and dollars in the hope of reaping astronomical profits. But when the dotcom bubble burst in the year 2000, practically most of the internet companies went belly up with entrepreneurs and investors losing their shirts.
It is not just the dotcom entrepreneurs who had to shut down their ventures. Every start-up company faces turbulent times not just when the economy is in tailspin but even during other times. For instance R Subramanian, a graduate of IIM Ahemdabad worked for some time in Citibank in a senior capacity. But after 15 days of work, he was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and he put in his papers and started Subiksha, India’s fastest grocery chain. Subhiksha was an Indian retail chain with 1600 outlets selling groceries, fruits, vegetables, medicines and mobile phones. It began operations in 1997, and was closed down in 2009 owing to financial mismanagement and a severe cash crunch defaulting on loans, vendor payments and staff salaries. The overextended chain imploded and all stores across the country were shut down, most likely never to open again. Subiksha is not an exception, there are umpteen number of companies which had to shut down after a meteoric rise.
But between the two extremities of stupendous success and dismal failures, there are several others entrepreneurs who are doing reasonably well making a name for themselves and good revenues for their companies. There are some entrepreneurs and innovators not only in metropolitan cities but even in rural areas. One organization which is nurturing such innovators is National Innovation Foundation which is an autonomous organization established under the Department of Science and Technology (India).
Risk Taking and Innovation
According to Anil K Gupta, who is the Executive Vice Chairman of National Innovation Foundation (NIF), entrepreneurship can be learned by ordinary people with creative mind once they develop the ability to take risks and innovate. ” But for this the government should take a proactive step in promoting entrepreneurship by setting up risk capital fund for them. However the problem in our country is the fact that hardly anyone is willing to put their capital for those whose ideas have not been tested. Entrepreneurship is a long winding process. Some times it takes more than five to six years to succeed. Till then one needs to have faith and patience”.
Mr Gupta a professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad has been championing the cause of thousands of faceless creative individuals scattered all over India. Because most of them are far removed from the modern organised world of business, they are unaware of their own worth, rights and the opportunities that await them. Now with Gupta’s initiative they find new doors opening for them. He also founded the Honey Bee Network, a scouting team of academics, students, scientists and farmers seeking out innovators from remote villages across the country.
Sundeep Holani, CEO of Channel Play which is one of the fastest growing retail marketing companies in India says one of the main difference between entrepreneurs and non entrepreneurs is their mindset. The entrepreneur sees great opportunities in problems. When a large number of people are facing some type of problem, then a great business opportunity lies in finding solution.
” The interesting fact about entrepreneurship is that any person with average IQ can become an entrepreneur and reasonably succeed if refuses to quit because of initial setbacks. If he clings to his dream, then sooner or later he will succeed. It is not necessary that he will achieve success in what he exactly had in mind. In the course of his entrepreneurial journey he may have to change his course and succeed in something else”, said Sundeep.
Another important trait of a good entrepreneur is his quick decision making capacity. People who linger instead of taking decision often miss the bus.
Started in December 2006, Channel Play is just over four years old but is working with some of the biggest global brands in telecom and IT sector like Aircel, Blackberry, Intel, Nokia, Microsoft, Dell etc and currently employs over 3000 people across 200 cities in India and had Rs. 45 crores in revenues in 2010-11. Channelplay has been growing double in size every year, both in terms of revenues and number of employees.
Another thing that is very important is capital. “Often people underestimate the amount which is needed for the entrepreneur venture and when the existing amount dries up, the venture often withers” , said Sundeep.
Meet Yogesh Bansal, another young entrepreneur who is the Founder and CEO of ApnaCircle.com, the indigenous lucrative and Glocal (Global-Local) professional networking platform. ApnaCircle.com is India ‘s first and leading Business and Career networking site. You have Facebook, Orkut etc where you can network socially as they cater to your social needs. You have LinkedIn which is though a professional network but not like ApnaCircle, which is created keeping in mind the career needs of Indian youth. It solves the local as well as global needs of professionals who whether are looking for their very first job, switching careers or re-entering the job market after an extended absence. It is not just for CEOs, CFOs or MNC openings; it is for every Indian who wants to locate opportunities within any local region as well.
Within a short span of its inception, ApnaCircle merged with Viadeo, the leading professional networking site in Europe and Tianji in China , to form this new leading global entity which is in align with our Glo-cal strategy .
An MBA from the University of North Carolina, Yogesh spent significant time in understanding the market through market research. As a professional he has played a critical role with different organizations across the globe and has been part of many founding teams of various businesses. He founded several start ups in USA as well as India. Before becoming an entrepreneur; he worked with McKesson Inc, USA. With hands on experience in the field of market research he moved back to India in the year 2006 and started ApnaCircle.com. He founded the company with a vision to make it the most rewarding, accepted and professionally in-vogue web site.
Belief in himself
Yogesh says one of the most important quality of an entrepreneur is his belief in himself. “Unless an entrepreneur believes in himself , no one else will believe him. He should have a good team with him who has implicit faith in his vision. There will be times an entrepreneur might make serious blunders and he might encounter failure. But he should have the capacity to shrug it off and move on as failure are the stepping stones to success. No point in brooding over a mistake or a failure”.
The other thing which is needed is ability to work hard, motivate the team and an intense passion to deliver the best. The product which he delivers should have something unique for the customers, said Yogesh.
Mark Allen Roberts who is an author, public speaker and consultant who has spent more than 25 years helping entrepreneurs profitably grow their business has listed 50 points which he describes as the ” 50 Ugly Truths about owning and running your own business and five reasons to do it anyway ” which every individual who is taking up entrepreneurship should know before venturing into this road.
Robert says six out of 10 American adults are “thinking ” about starting their own business. Out of those three will launch and 90 per cent fail within 18 months. Those are the statistics, raw and frightening facts.
But according to him the top three reasons why the small business fail are mainly three
Ran out of cash
Failed to have a Unique selling proposition,The owner, they were skilled at a technical discipline, but were never trained to run a business.
According to Robert the entrepreneur should know that the road that he is taking would involve lot of hard work, person will need to put in more hours, he will need to learn new things, he must learn to delegate and outsource, one is bound to make mistakes, friends and loved ones might turn against him, his forecast to be cash positive could be too aggressive etc. For more details about Roberts presentation, just put ” 50 Ugly Truths about owning and running ……. in the search engine of google and you will be able to download it. However at the end of his eBook Robert also gives good reason why a person should become an entrepreneur as running your own business is fulfilling if you know what you are signing up for.
