Bangalore: Entrepreneurs must be like David to win against real world's Goliath
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Dec 8: With the younger generation dominating the world, especially in a country like India, the young professionals had a tremendous potential to develop their entrepreneurial skills with proper mentoring and support to utilize the immense opportunities available to them, said Rev Dr Thomas C Mathew, Vice Chancellor of Christ University.
Of the nine teams of students from Mumbai, Mangalore and Bangalore, who were chosen in the three preliminary rounds held in the three cities for the semi-final contest, one team opted out a the last minute. Two teams – ''Vollet” comprising K R Shaam and Sarvesh Mishra of Simbiosis Institute of Management Studies (SIMS), Pune and ''Floaster” comprising Varun Jain and Faisal Shaikh of SFES College of Management Studies, Navi Mumbai – were adjudged for the top two slots to take part in the finals scheduled to be held during the "Entreprenet 2014" at the Park Plaza Hotel in Bangalore on January 31 and February 1, 2014.
The business plan adjudged as the best at the Entreprenet Convention 2014 is eligible to get the benefit of mentoring and also an opportunity to receive an investment upto Rs 1 crore. The winner will also get a cheque of Rs 1 Lakh and a trophy.
The Emerging Entrepreneur Business Plan Contest is a first of its kind initiative aimed at tapping and promoting entrepreneur talent of young entrepreneurs.
In his thought-provoking inaugural address at the semi-final of the Kanara Entrepreneurs (KE) Emerging Business Plant Contest being held as part of the Entreprenet 2014, the biennial global conference of entrepreneurs under the banner of KE Global in association with its affiliate Dimensions, Mumbai, he quoted the oft-quoted Biblical story of David vs Goliath to drive home the point that the emerging entrepreneurs could be like the young David, who fought against the giant Goliath, to succeed with creative and strategic thinking and implementation of ideas.
Just as the young David used the sling and stones to fell the mighty Goliath, the young and budding entrepreneurs can also succeed with creative and strategic thinking to implement their business ideas in the real world of business enterprise and create wealth to help the growth of society and mankind, Fr Mathew said asking the young professionals and entrepreneurs to be more responsible, dedicated and result-oriented.
KE Global Lauded for Helping Entrepreneurs
The Vice Chancellor lauded the KE Global leaders for their commitment to serve society and help the young entrepreneurial community and also for associating themselves with Christ University in its drive to help in the holistic development of the students. A proper blend of curricular and co-curricular learning and training activities helped the younger generation to prepare themselves to face the challenges of the future with courage, he said.
Ivan Fernandes, Chairman of KE Global, in his address, said entrepreneurship should thrive and entrepreneurs can be expected to spring in every nook and corner of a land of opportunities like India. However, it was unfortunate that the country generated probably the least number of entrepreneurs for the opportunities it offers.
Based on Gallup's research from 2012, 16 % of Indian adults report that they currently own a business. Of those, only 22 % say they formally registered their business. Half of the business owners report working alone and 47 % have hired five or fewer employees, which explained why India was lagging.
Another inhibiting factor was India’s low ranking of 166 among 183 countries in terms of starting a business as per World Bank’s on 'Doing Business in a More Transparent World in 2012,’ Fernandes said pointing out that widespread corruption, government hurdles, lack of funding and poor technology and training were the main reasons behind the poor entrepreneurship record in Asia.
Entrepreneurship Plays Key Role
However, it is to be noted that India has an abundant reserve of entrepreneurial talent. The research found that business thinking, optimism and persistence – all important for entrepreneurs — are common traits among Indians. But it found that the willingness to take the risk of running a business is not a common trait among a majority of Indians, said Fernandes, who is also the Managing Director of Regent Technologies Ltd.
Socio-cultural factors such as social norms, family values, networks and social value of entrepreneurship, play a key role in nurturing the entrepreneurial ecosystem. A historical and sociological understanding of certain communities in India, which have been traditionally engaged in business, confirms the role of social factors that encourage entrepreneurship that will help in creation of more wealth through constant innovation, Fernandes said.
Entrepreneurship plays a major role in the development of economy of any country. The entrepreneur, who implements 'new combinations of means of production’ plays a crucial role in disturbing the status quo through innovation or creative destruction, and thereby becomes an agent of change, he said adding, dynamic equilibrium achieved by a constantly innovating entrepreneur could generate the conditions for increasing opportunities for employment comprising various competitive skills, additional wealth creation, introduction and dissemination of new methods and technology as well as overall economic growth.
'Help by Teaching to Fish, Not by Giving Fish’
KE Global, established in 2004 to promote entrepreneurship among individuals and provide opportunities for wealth creation and preservation, has grown tremendously with talent pool of over 1500 successful entrepreneurs and professionals spread in different cities in India and abroad. During this period KE has mentored several business plans, invested in some and has initiated joint projects to scale the overall impact beyond their individual capacities.
Fernandes complimented the Christ University under the dynamic leadership of its Vice Chancellor, Rev Fr Thomas Mathew, for its zeal and initiative in promoting enterprising skills and talents among the students and also for hosting the semi-finals in the true spirit of the Chinese proverb, ''The best way to help others is by teaching them to fish, rather than giving fish, which is temporary.”
The eight team in their semi-final presentations came out with their entrepreneurial ideas of business plans involving aspects of the anticipated risks in business models, financing, execution, market and technology risks as also the strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threats (SWOT) analysis, followed by tough and incisive questions from the jury members.
Floaster, Vollet Business Plans
The Floaster team presented the prototype of the Floaster, which is completely different from the traditional toaster, that offers an all-in-one solution for meeting the breakfast needs to appeal to the young and upwardly mobile crowds or working women too pressed for time and coupled with radio and music playing options along with the facility to charge mobile phones.
The Vollet team’s presentation, also aimed at the tech-savvy and the young and upwardly mobile crowds used to the high-end mobile phones equipped with latest useful applications or apps, is a combination of loyalty app and customer-relationship-management (CRM) portal to help the web and smartphone users as also restaurants to cash in on the business opportunities.
The other teams included – Padhaku (Studious) Joker offering a search engine to meet the diverse needs of students, Attic giving an one-stop solution to meet the training needs of the lowliest rung of persons to reach the top attic, Talk of the Town team aims at bringing music, arts and design performants together under a common and single platform, BYOG or build your own guitar for building and customization of guitars to suit the needs of professional and amateur guitarists, Sahrudhayam team as low cost portable ECG monitor and Viivahaseva team providing wedding planner portal involving data on all credible vendors to help in arranging all marriage related work.
At the end of the day-long grueling session of presentation of the business plans and questioning, the chosen finalists, Vollet and Floaster team members were presented with certificates by Dr Anil Joseph Pinto, Registrar of Christ University.
University-Industry Collaboration Mooted
Dr Pinto, in his brief address at the concluding function, said India was quietly surging ahead from the primary service sector of economy to the tertiary sector and emphasized the need for most of the eligible younger lot to get the benefit of higher education to come up in life. The people with ideas and talents must be encouraged and nurtured and given all facilities to grow so that they were enabled to implement their ideas if the country was to prosper and progress, he said.
Appreciating the KE Global for teaming up with Christ University, Dr Pinto stressed the need for greater and closer involvement of the academicians, universities and institutes of higher education in India in space, science and technological fields as was happening in the advanced countries like US, were universities were part of the collaborative efforts in space and technology. Industry must also support the universities and institutes of higher education in nurturing, promoting and mentoring talent, he said.
All Teams Must Strive to Implement
KE Global Chairman Ivan Fernandes, in his address, said all the participating teams irrespective of their winning status must go ahead to implement their business plans if they really believed in their concept, ideation and strategies. He assured the winners as well as other professionals and budding entrepreneurs that KE was willing to lend a helping hand. The collaboration between KE and Christ University was a platform for the students and alumni to come together and move ahead, he said.
Adrian D’Souza, Director Finance and Coordinator, Emerging Business Plan contest, gave a gist of the business plans presented by all the eight teams that took part in the semi-finals.
Recalling the example of Philip Knight, who went on to become a successful entrepreneur of importing Japanese sports shoes to US with an initial capital of $ 500 graduation from the Stanford University, Adrian D’Souza, who himself is a successful entrepreneur and heads the Deccan Group of Companies as Managing Director, said the young professionals and budding entrepreneurs must believe in themselves first and work for the successful implementation of their business plans.
Apart from Ivan Fernandes and Adrian D’Souza, Dr Jyoti Kumar, Associate Professor and BBA Coordinator, Department of Management Studies, Christ University, Prof A Sridharan, Associate Professor of Management Studies, Prof Shivakami R, Assistant Professor of Management Studies, Mark D’Souza, Chairman of Entreprenet 2014 and President of KE Bangalore, Albert Rodrigues, founder member of KEL, Jolly J Mathews, Claudius Pereira, Charles Gomes and Anil Rego of Right Horizons Financial Services were the other jury members.
Daijiworld.com is the media partner of the Entreprenet 2014.