entrepreneur october 2012

Round Two

THE GREAT INDIAN CONSUMPTION STORY PG 58

FAST MONEY WITH FAST FOOD PG 89

SCALING UP CREATIVITY PG 62

5 HOT STARTUPS TO WATCH OUT FOR PG 101

Policy Play: The Planning Commission wants you to start up PG 54

Malvinder Mohan Singh is ready to repeat the journey he undertook at Ranbaxy. Only this time he is aiming to go much further with Fortis and Religare PG 46

PLUS

OCTOBER 2012 VOLUME 4 ISSUE 2 `100 www.entrepreneurindia.in

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46 Singh’s Second SeasonMalvinder Mohan Singh began a new journey some years ago when he and his brother Shivinder let go of Ranbaxy and decided to whole-heartedly focus on the healthcare and �nancial services industry instead. Their healthcare business has operations in various countries around the world and plans to grow furtherBy Avanish Tiwary

INSIGHTS18 Towards Capitalism 3.0R. Jagannathan talks about why it’s key to reinvent capitalism for the economy to progress

20 A Few Good IdeasRichard Branson looks at 5 companies that are working for the good of the community

22 Are You Ready to Grow?Ravi Kiran says that once you know why you want to grow, you need to focus on how you will do it

23 Waiting to ExhaleNandini Vaidyanathan helps you understand when your e-commerce website must go live

24 Intangible IssuesRajeev Surana looks into how you can use intangibles to get better valuations

26 The Mystery of Entrepreneur SalariesAlok Kejriwal unravels the mystery, says en-trepreneurs needn’t be ashamed of getting paid

28 Liquidity RationaleBharat Banka discusses whether liquidity infu-sion by the government is a solution or not

30 Alpha Vs. BetaManish Sabharwal won-ders if the difference between luck and skill is just your risk-taking ability

31 Safeguard Your FutureRanjeet S. Mudholkar dis-cusses the importance of a sound �nancial plan for your venture and your personal goals

COVER STORY

MY STORY32 Walk ahead, to learnAfter 2 not-so-successful attempts he emerged tri-umphant after surviving all odds. T Muralidharan of TMI Group shares his journey as an entrepreneur

IN CONVERSATION36 ‘In India, social ventures lean towards the venture side’Fred Rose and Surayanarayanan A., Head of Opera-tions at the Indian Institute of Human Settlements talk about social ventures in India and the US, the challenges they face and more

By Shonali Advani

38 ‘Indian e-commerce is still in its early stages’Joaquin Rodriguez Torres shares his perspectives on the present and future of e-commerce in the country. He shares that barring online travel, e-commerce is still in its infancy in our country

By Pranbihanga Borpuzari

WOMAN ENTREPRENEUR

40 The Legal FormulaPoorvi Chothani began a law �rm specializing in immigration services battling a number of personal constraints

By Bindi Shah

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR

44 Fast AidZiqitza is providing quality ambulance services to people across income groups

By Shruti Chakraborty

IN FOCUS54 Mission: PossibleA recent Planning Commission report has looked at the challenges keeping India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem from booming and has suggested some urgent reforms


SPECIAL FEATURE

58 Because India ConsumesIn partnership with Sequoia Capital India we explore what keeps India's consumption story going and how it will pan out in the future

By V T Bharadwaj

6 Intelligent Entrepreneur October 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STRATEGY

62 Scaling up CreativityCreative businesses face scaling up challenges that other ventures probably will never have to consider. Find out what it takes for creative businesses to scale up and how you can do it too


OFFBEAT64 Top GearCarwale’s business model has some important les-sons on building a sustain-able and sellable business

By Harsh Pamnani

SUCCESS INC

68 The Axle EffectGNA Udyog began its story by manufacturing axle shafts in 1946 and is now growing at an annual growth rate of about 30 percent


GETTING THERE72 The Identity Makers

4G Identity Solutions uses biometric technology to provide large-scale identity management solutions and is behind various aspects of Aaadhar

By Shonali Advani

80 Digital DreamsChris George is aiming to make a mark in the online marketing space with his venture EBS Worldwide

By Bindi Shah

SPECIAL REPORTS

83 By Innovation OnlyIndian innovations that make a difference in the community were showcased at CNBC-TV18’s Sam-sung Innovation Quotient


84 Awarding India’s YoungThe youth of the coun-try is actively making attempts to bring about a change in the coun-try. Young Indian Lead-ers Awards celebrated that aspect.


86 A Game of StrategyThe E&Y Strate-gic Growth Forum discussed an array of topics from investing in other continents, building game chang-ing business models and more

By Bindi Shah

WATCH OUT

88 ‘Make use of no-money marketing’Harish Bijoor, a brand strategy specialist speaks on brand-building, marketing and how SMEs can use the same to become successful

GO FRANCHISE

89 Quick BitePartnering with the right brands and your risk-taking ability will determine your success if you’re planning to open a quick service restaurant franchise


TECH DEPARTMENT

95 In the middleHTC’s One S came late to the Indian market but this thin and light phone seems to have been worth the wait

By Ankush Chibber

97 For an Inch MoreIs Dell’s XPS 14 an ultrabook? We look into that and more about the product and �nd that it seems to be as good as the company's �agship product

By Ankush Chibber

98 iOS6: Ayes and NaysApple launched the 6th generation of its operat-ing system along with the iPhone 5. Read about what worked and what didn’t with the operat-ing system

By Ankush Chibber


TABLE OF CONTENTS

HOW TO

118 Choose a Law Firm

There are things to keep in mind while evaluating which �rm will be the best to represent your business

By Diljeet Titus

121 Generate Better Leads on FacebookA Facebook feature en-ables effective targeting for your marketing messages

By Amy Porter�eld

122 Protect Your System from Cyber AttacksPreventing against a cyber attack is of paramount importance for most businesses


124 Retail in Tier III and Tier IV MarketsThere are things to keep in mind before entering tier III and tier IV Markets

By Shonali Advani

SPEND IT

127 An Ode to the OrientBengaluru’s Like That Only offers a blend of oriental inspired dishes

By Shonali Advani

128 Club ClassMumbai’s Waterstones Hotel is the latest entrant amongst the hotels outside Mumbai’s International airport

By Sriya Ray Chaudhuri

129 In the Midst of MistsCitrus Chambers at Mahabaleshwar may be a good option to consider for your next business offsite

By Sriya Ray Chaudhuri

130 Duster DeliversRecently out of Renault’s stable, the Duster is a lot better than other Indian-made SUVs


SHELF LIFE

133 Jobs and co.We read two books that will help you learn from the lives and experiences of Steve Jobs and Terry Leahy


REGULARS

11 FEEDBACK 12 RESOURCES 14 ASK

ENTREPRENEUR 16 CAPSULE134 BACKSTAGE

COVER CREDITS

COVER DESIGNArko Provo Mukherjee

COVER IMAGEAmit kumar

IMAGINGChaitanya Dinesh Surpur

MONEY

92 Trim the FatCost-cutting can be tricky for a small busi-ness. Read about what you should focus on to do it strategically

By Joe Worth

93 Secure your �nan-cial futureA foolproof �nancial plan will help you deal with future �nancial commitments better

By Mukund Seshadri

94 Deal with Cash FlowsIt is important for an entrepreneur to use capital pro�ciently. Managing your wallet effectively is essential

By Vishal Dhawan

STARTUPS

102 Call for HelpAnkur Singla’s startup Akosha is helping resolve problems people face with customer care


104 An Eye in the SkyA startup from IIT Bombay ideaForge has developed a product to help give security organizations a 'God's view' on things


108 Poster PerfectHinesh Jethwani is trying to preserve an old cinema art with his startup Indian Hippy

By Trishna Guha

110 Un Vino Storia An Indo-Italian venture is aiming to make it big in the international wine market


114 Career on TrackGautam Munshi and Pavan Bhat have made a business based on their love for analytics

By Shonali Advani

TABLE OF CONTENTS


11Intelligent Entrepreneur October 2012

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Letters may be edited for brevity and clarity.

When I started reading your compila-tion of the best entrepreneurial ven-tures run by women in the issue, I was shocked at reading that the ideal country to start a business as a woman could be India. I started a venture last year and I doubt if I had it easier than any man. But it makes me proud that there are woman who are beating the odds and actually building businesses of repute in the country. In the social entrepreneurship section, I am sur-prised though that amongst the best in the last 3 years, there weren’t any wom-en. So many women are doing so much in this space. Overall, it was a good compilation of stories. A good overview of things in this issue, as always.

- Snigdha Rao Via e-mail

I am an entrepreneur based out of Kol-kata and also a big fan of Shah Rukh Khan. I love the fact that Entrepreneur magazine has amalgamated these two aspects of my life in the cover story. It’s a very good insight into his life and how he manages his companies. I am an avid reader of the magazine and I wish all the team members the very best for future issues of the magazine.

- Sharthak Mazumdar Via e-mail

I have been reading Entrepreneur maga-zine for a while now and I would really like to congratulate you on the maga-zine’s third anniversary. I liked the sec-tion, ‘Vision 2015’, of this edition a lot. It has covered all the biggies like Adi Go-drej, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Malvinder Singh and many more. After reading about such stalwarts of the business world and their ideas, it was quite dis-appointing to �nd Shah Rukh Khan on the cover. Agreed that he has many successful businesses, but he is recog-nized for his acting skills and not for his business acumen. I wish the magazine considers this in future.

- Tarun BahlVia e-mail.

I read the third anniversary issue of Entrepreneur and I must say that this special edition was very impressive. I especially liked the column, ‘Baptism by �re’, written by Kumar Mangalam Birla. I like the fact that he has approached the �nancial crisis that the world is go-ing through from a very practical point of view and has articulately spelt out the economic problems that India faces. There’s a great collection of inputs from the other business tycoons as well.

- Sharman Pandey

Mumbai

Nice read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing a little research on that. And he actually bought me lunch as I found it for him. So let me rephrase that: Thank you for lunch! Good write-up, I am a regular visitor of your website. I am really glad I’ve found this info. A good web site with exciting content, this is what I need. Thank you for keeping this site going, I’ll be visiting it regularly for a long time.

- Annamarie Holck

Looking forward to many more such relevant and down-to-earth columns from you! After reading this, I think that you’re very observant and feel the nerve of the people. Good Luck!

- Pramod Kumar

This story has motivation for all young entrepreneurs. This story is about a great business idea that can lead us to success. - Pradeep Kolanu

To read more, grab the October 2012 issue of EntrepreneurTo Subscribe, visit www.entrepreneurindia.in

18 Intelligent Entrepreneur October 2012 Photo Joshua Navalkar

ONCE UPON A TIME, it was easy to answer this question: What should your �rst priority be as a CEO or a business manager? Most people would have answered “maximizing shareholder value,” especially if the company is a listed one, and millions of investors are watching your corporate pro�t performance like hawks.

But after Enron, Lehman, and many such egregious examples of corporate skullduggery, few CEO are willing to give the standard answer today. Many are, in fact, going the other way. Two years ago, Anglo-Dutch Unilever PLC’s CEO Paul Polman made a startling confession by saying he could not put shareholder value as this top concern. He told Financial Times: “I do not work for the shareholder, to be honest; I work for the consumer. I am not driven and I don’t drive this business model by driving shareholder value.”

Before Polman, Jack Welch, the iconic former chairman of GE, made an equally strong state-ment. “On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world.”

Having retired from GE, Welch can pretty well say what he wants and still be considered a prophet of pro�t. But Polman, too, didn’t lose his job. This shows how far western capitalism has come from the old raw focus on pro�tability that was the hallmark of laissez-faire.

What’s going on?Welcome to Capitalism 3.0. If the rise of welfare capitalism (Capitalism 2.0) was the market economy’s answer to the challenges posed by Marx and Lenin, then the fall of the Berlin Wall should have ended further experimenta-tions with capitalism.

But, with capitalists stumbling all over in the wake of huge scandals, ‘Gordon Gekko’ is no longer a poster-hero on Wall Street, and capi-talists have realized that society is scrutinizing

For the economy to progress, reinventing capitalism is key

Towards Capitalism 3.0

[ R. JAGANNATHAN ]

them like never before. Capitalism has to be reinvented all over again.

In the US, President Obama has taken busi-ness to task for loss of jobs and excessive greed, and in India, too, we have seen the public fall-out from rapacious crony capitalism in the 2G spectrum scandal and the coal blocks allo-cation controversy—to speak only about the latest pressure-points.

What has changed is the universal realization that no economic enterprise can have only one goal. Shareholder maximization is important, but cannot be the prime or only goal of an enter-prise with so many stakeholders. The means are becoming as important as the end—something that Gandhi stressed.

In fact, some time back, companies went about saying that customers were their main focus on the assumption that if customers are happy and �nd value in products, pro�ts and shareholders, value will follow. This, too, is a false grail. Can you delight customers with the help of grumpy employees?

Two years ago, Vineet Nayyar of HCL Technologies thought he had got a �x on the employees issue by penning a book titled Employees First, Customers Second. He surely has a point in saying that an enterprise with unhappy employ-ees can’t succeed in making customers happy. Picture a call centre with disgruntled employ-ees—and how they will respond to customers—I have made my point.

Who’s the boss?However, here’s the counterpoint: there is no better place for employees than government and the public sector, where fairness to employ-ees is placed above all else. Jobs are guaran-teed till retirement. Air India employees did not think twice about ditching customers when

NEWTHINK

IN SIGHTS


they pursued their own interests earlier this year—and guess where the airline is today? No airline (with the exception, possibly, of King�sher today) is probably destroying value faster than Air India, thanks to mollycoddling its employ-ees. If employees don’t come �rst, if customers don’t come �rst, and if shareholders don’t come �rst, who does?

The answer is all stakeholders—including vendors, distributors, and society at large, apart from shareholders, customers and employees.

No company can hope to succeed in the long-term if it is ultimately focused on a very narrow de�nition of stakeholders. Companies are a part of society, and their ability to make a pro�t depends on whether society sees its goals as respectable. You can make employees, shareholders, custom-ers, and even business partners happy, but what if you are destroying the environment and contribut-ing to global warming?

Total recallThe illegal ore miners of Karnataka and Goa may have made many stakehold-ers happy (except possibly the taxman) by their nefari-ous activities, but they were looting the country and ruining the areas mined by careless exploita-tion. Little wonder, some of them are facing legal charge-sheets and an extended sojourn in jail.

Take shareholders. Today, shares like ONGC and Coal India are probably relatively underval-ued not because they are unpro�table (quite the opposite, in fact), but because the main share-holder—the government—is taking minority shareholders for granted.

Coal India has faced a legal challenge from the UK-based Children’s Investment Fund for taking pricing diktats from government; ONGC is being asked to hand out a big chunk of its pro�ts to the oil marketing companies, when the subsidy bill is that of the central government. This is corporate misgovernance of a high order.

Companies cannot adopt an either/or approach to serving stakeholders, far-sighted businessmen are taking a more enlightened view of giving back to society what society gave them earlier.

Lucky stroke?A few years ago, the world’s best known inves-tor, Warren Buffett, started the trend of asking

his fellow billionaires to publicly pledge to give a signi�cant chunk of their wealth to charity or any good cause of their choice. At last count, there were more than 80 billionaires—ranging from Bill and Melinda Gates to Mark Zuckerberg to Vinod Khosla to Ted Turner and many others who signed the pledge.

In India, Buffett had urged a similar giving pledge, but the results are still to be seen. One presumes the crisis in Indian indus-try has focused efforts more in the direction of rescuing their business from the current scams than in redistributing wealth after the promoters are gone.

More than just serving stakeholders, business-men need to acknowledge the role luck may have played in their fortune. This suggests that owner-ship of wealth beyond a reasonable limit should be

seen as held in trust for the larger good.

While pledging 99 percent of his wealth to charity, Buffett made a reference to the luck factor: “My wealth has come from a combination of living in America, some lucky genes, and compound interest.

Both my children and I won what I call the ovar-ian lottery. (For starters, the odds against my 1930 birth taking place in the US were at least 30 to 1. My being male and white also removed huge obstacles that a majority of Americans then faced.) My luck was accentuated by my living in a market system that sometimes produces distorted results, though overall it serves our country well. I’ve worked in an economy that rewards someone who saves the lives of others on a battle�eld with a medal, rewards a great teacher with thank-you notes from parents, but rewards those who can detect the mispricing of securities with sums reaching into the billions. In short, fate’s distribution of long straws is wildly capricious.”

Mahatma Gandhi, who disliked soulless communism, was all for capitalism with a human face. He wanted capitalists to hold wealth in trust for the poor.

It’s time India’s capitalism starts looking beyond raking it in to giving it away. If not Buffett, they can read Gandhi all over again.

R. JAGANNATHAN is the Editor of Firstpost.com

Mahatma Gandhi, who disliked soulless communism, was all for capitalism with a

human face


P oorvi Chothani has many sto-ries to share. Born in Calicut in Kerala, Chothani was raised

on a tea estate in Coonoor near Ooty in Tamil Nadu where the �rst seeds of enterprise were sown into her young mind during the early years of her childhood. Her father ran the tea estate business while her mother grew cabbages and strawberries on the farm and sold the produce.

Chothani, however, turned an entrepreneur very late in her life. The second daughter in a family of three, she admits that she could have grown her business better and bigger had she started her own �rm earlier.

Strongly inclined toward the legal profession, Chothani was raised in an era when daughters were not so wel-come. Yet, her father strived to give all three girls a good education and went to the extent of opening a new girls college in Ooty so that his daughters could study in a decent environment. This venture gave Chothani a chance to emerge a multi-faceted leader rather than a mere student and that experience, of course, came in handy when she set up her own law �rm in December 2003.

The early yearsChothani, aged 41, was the eldest in her class and a mother of two when she entered the University of Pennsylvania Law School in the US in 2002 to pur-

sue an LL.M. program. “It was a dream that came true after many years. My husband funded my education and I knew I owed it to the family to earn some money when I got back. I was extremely keen always to have an engaging legal career. I �nally saw it happening,” says Chothani, Founder

and Managing Partner, LawQuest, a full-service law �rm specializing in immigration services.

In 1982, after graduating in English literature, Chothani moved to Mumbai to pursue her Bachelor’s degree in law (LL.B.) and stayed with an aunt, who �nanced her partly. She took up a secretarial program immediately and started earning part-time. She got married soon after and �nished her law degree two years after marriage. Meanwhile, she had already started her civil litigation practice. Chothani kept taking breaks intermittently from work in the years that followed to raise a family and ended up with varied legal experience in her bouquet. “Most of my classmates headed to the US (Harvard) immediately after �nishing the LL.B. program. However, my personal cir-cumstances and the prohibitive cost of such an education made it impossible for me to go,” she says. Throughout the 80s and 90s, she never lost touch with the legal profession. “I kept taking small assignments and updating my knowledge even when I was at home.”

Setting up shopSurprisingly, Chothani turned social entrepreneur before turning into a

The Legal FormulaPoorvi Chothani has built a formidable business around immigration services

BINDI SHAH

[ GLOBAL GAMBIT ]

“UPON MY RETURN TO INDIA, I EVALU-ATED JOB OFFERS FROM FIRMS RANGING FROM BIG TO SMALL. I WANTED TO TEST THE MARKET BEFORE STARTING LAWQUEST. I CONCLUDED IT WAS BEST TO BE ON MY OWN. - POORVI CHOTHANI, FOUNDER AND MANAGING PARTNER, LAWQUEST


WOMAN ENTREPRENEUR

legal one during one of her breaks. She opened two day care centers and pre-schools (in Navi Mumbai and Kanjurmarg) in the 90s as she felt a strong need to help working women. “Pro�t was not the objective at that point but I learnt business skills for the �rst time on the job. I learnt sales and marketing and how to spread a word about my ventures. It was on-the-job learning that came in handy later,” she says.

Chothani had carefully evaluated the market and ways to optimize her legal career before going to the US in 2002 for her Masters program. She had resolved to start her independent �rm if market opportunities were not good enough. While in the US she decided to specialize in immigration

law as a subject as she was keen to build a law �rm with international capabili-ties and reach. With her LL.M., she also enrolled for various entrepreneurial courses at Wharton to understand the business side of things. “It was a lot of fun,” she says.

On completion of her program, she took training with a US immigration �rm which later made her their cor-respondent attorney in India for $500 (`25,000) a month. “Upon my return to India, I evaluated three job offers from different �rms ranging from big to small. I wanted to test the market before starting LawQuest. I came to the conclusion it was best to be on my own,” says Chothani. In the early years, business was uncertain and slow. LawQuest started with immigration

services and approached corporate clients to help them secure US work visas for their employees and also those foreign nationals keen to come to India and work. Meanwhile, Chothani took the New York Bar Exam in January 2004 and got admitted to the New York Bar in the same year.

Within a short span of starting out, Chothani increased the �rm’s range of services to include practices in intel-lectual property, real estate, corporate and commercial law, transaction law, family law, global migration and Indian employment law. She also took her UK exam in 2005-'06 and is now Solicitor, Registered and Practising, England and Wales. Today, LawQuest has a pres-ence in more than 30 countries globally through local tie-ups and boasts of an

KNOWLEDGE-DRIVEN: Poorvi Chothani

41Intelligent Entrepreneur October 2012Photo Neha Mithbawkar 41To read more, grab the October 2012 issue of Entrepreneur

To Subscribe, visit www.entrepreneurindia.inTo read more, grab the October 2012 issue of Entrepreneur

To Subscribe, visit www.entrepreneurindia.in

COVER STORY


COVER STORY

SECOND Singh’sSeason

After letting go of Ranbaxy, Malvinder Mohan Singh

looks set to script successes in healthcare and financial services

along with brother Shivinder

AVANISH TIWARYPHOTOGRAPHS BY AMIT KUMAR

47Intelligent Entrepreneur October 2012To read more, grab the October 2012 issue of Entrepreneur


[ POLICY PUSH ]

The country's entrepreneurship ecosystem urgently needs a push to help it grow to attain even a fraction of its complete potential. A recent Planning Commission report may help in

doing just that

SHRUTI CHAKRABORTY

POSSIBLEMISSION:

IN FOCUS

54 Intelligent Entrepreneur October 2012 Illustration Chaitanya Dinesh Surpur

IF you have already started your business in India, you are likely to know

exactly what The World Bank means when they decide to rate India 166th out of 183 economies in the world on the ease of starting a business. If this is a discouraging �gure for you and you’re planning to take that cushy job instead of starting your company, the Planning Commission of India may have something for you. In the last week of August, a committee set up by the Planning Commission came out with a report 'Creating a Vibrant Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in India' and presented it to Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

The report gives hope that entre-preneurship in India is likely to be treated as more than the unwanted son of the government, come the 12th Five Year Plan. Ahluwalia, in fact, said in a statement that the �ndings of the committee will be re�ected in the 12th Plan Document.

The committee, chaired by Sunil Mitra, ex-revenue secre-tary, Government of India, com-prised Saurabh Srivastava, Founder and Director of the Indian Angel Network; Ashish Dhawan, Founder of ChrysCapital; Jayant Sinha, Managing Director, Omidyar Networks India Advisors; Alok Mittal, Managing Director of Canaan Partners; Jyoti Sagar, Founder of JSA Law; Rajiv Memani, Country Managing Partner for Ernst & Young; and Harkesh Mittal, Adviser & Head, National Science & Technology, Entrepreneurship Development Board, amongst others. The research behind the report has been done by Bain & Co.

The task at handThe report highlights some of the key challenges faced by entrepreneurs in India and looks at the relevant changes that need to be made to help entre-preneurship �ourish in the country. It looks extensively at the shortage in the availability of capital at the level

of angel and early-stage investments. Jayant Sinha, in fact, says “we are well below where we need to be.” The report looks at the potential for job creation by driving entrepreneurship and says that all big organizations, including the large companies in the public and private sector are incapable of gener-ating enough jobs to meet the demand that is likely to come up in the coming decade.

The report states that the bank-ing sector in India has recorded almost no employment growth in the last two decades despite multifold growth in its revenues and assets. Agriculture employs nearly a half of India’s workforce but employment is likely to decline in this sector, due to improvements in productivity. The report also looks at the changes that can be brought about in other sectors like healthcare and education through a vibrant entrepreneurship ecosystem and by encouraging impact investing.

Says Sinha: “If we can get the entre-preneurial ecosystem �red up, we could make a huge difference."

The size of the challengeThe report throws up a few �gures to give an estimation of the scale of the problem faced by Indian entrepre-neurs as opposed to entrepreneurs in other economies. It states that in 2011, Indian angels, constrained by regula-tions that make both investing and exits cumbersome, invested only about `100 crore (approximately $20 million) in around 50 deals as compared to Canada, where angels invested `2,000 crore ($390 million). As a proportion of early-stage investing, angel invest-ments in India comprise just around 7 percent as against around 75 percent in the US. Early-stage venture capital investing is around `1,200 crore ($240 million) annually as against `29,000 crore ($6.3 billion) in the US and ̀ 3,000 crore ($700 million) in China.

Another major problem, Sinha says, is that “we don't have a local venture capital industry”. Around 90 percent of the early-stage venture funds in India come from offshore

sources rather than from domestic investors. “Being an angel investor in India means that you are handicapped in many ways. The tax treatment of angels is very murky right now. The treatment of capital gains is an issue, amongst others, which is a dampener for the community,” he says. The rea-son for most of the early stage ven-ture funds coming in from offshore sources, Sinha explains, is that RBI regulates what the pension funds and insurance companies can do. “Pension funds can't even invest in the equity market, let alone invest in an asset class like early-stage venture capital. Then there are the capital market pro-visioning norms. Everywhere else in the world, pension funds have played a tremendous role in fostering the venture capital industry."

The report also states that in the next decade, `3 lakh crore will be required to promote entrepreneur-ship in India. A signi�cant part of this would be impact investing—to address the country’s key develop-ment issues such as sanitation, clean drinking water, affordable healthcare and technology.

What the committee saysBroadly, some of the recommenda-tions made in the report include that agencies at all levels—central, state, and local—reduce transaction time

"WE ARE WELL BELOW WHERE WE NEED TO BE.”- JAYANT SINHA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, OMIDYAR NETWORKS INDIA ADVISORS

55Intelligent Entrepreneur October 2012Photo Maximage

IT was back in 1995 that Madhu Uday set up her Bengaluru-based design

studio Earthen Symphony. What started over 17 years ago with a measly initial capital has now become a busi-ness of decent revenue on the back of theme-based wall murals for which she charges anywhere between ̀ 20,000-`30 lakh. But did it scale up fast enough? Perhaps not, if you consider that it took Uday 17 years to get to her �rst `1 crore turnover.

Mumbai-based entrepreneur Vivek Goyal works in a very different, albeit creative, space from Uday but there is something that he shares with her. He is also facing an issue with how he should go about scaling up his comic book venture Holy Cow Entertainment, which was started last year.

The funding questionAs the primary artist for his business, Goyal does most of the artwork in the comic books

himself. A year into his business, Goyal has realized that he was getting a lot more work done when he was freelanc-ing, up to �ve pages of illustrations for comic books in a day, compared to the 14 pages a month he does now.

There is a problem and he knows it. He needs to expand and hire more people, but that means bringing inves-tors on board. That means that there will be a voice other than his mentor-ing the business with him. But can he afford that? Both Uday and Goyal face a quandary that many other creative professionals looking to run their own ventures have. Where does creative freedom stand vis-a-vis growing the business? Do they merge at some point? Where do you draw the line?

Goyal says that one of the main reasons he has tried to not get inves-tors on board is because protecting his creative freedom has been very impor-tant to him. Uday too harbors similar fears. Krishna Tanuku, Executive Director at ISB’s Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurship Development

(WCED) agrees that creative ventures often lack the funding support others in the startup ecosystem get. Tanuku says, "Supporting creative ventures is not everyone's cup of tea." While looking for investors, entrepreneurs must be able to demonstrate that their designs are capable of generating rev-enue. They must also look for investors who understand and respect the cre-ative freedom of the entrepreneur.

Understand the customerThe realm of creative businesses cov-ers a vast range that includes most handicraft ventures, artists, painters, jewelry designers, fashion designers and many others. And they all face Uday and Goyal’s problem. Geetha Krishnan, Director at the Centre for Executive Education at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, says that one needs to recognize the core issue with such businesses—they are too dependent on the entrepre-neur’s creative zeal.

Krishnan worked closely with Uday during Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Women program at ISB, where the organization worked with women entrepreneurs to understand the business principles that could help them expand and grow their businesses.

“While these entrepreneurs have the technical know-how and the pas-sion for designing, the lack of business knowledge and business skill is what

Perhaps the toughest question creative businesses have to ask themselves is whether to scale or not

SHRUTI CHAKRABORTY

[ UPHILL TASK ]

THE SCALE OF

"CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURS TRY TO GET A LARGE SHARE OF A SMALL PIE. THEY SHOULD INSTEAD GET A REASONABLE SHARE OF A LARGE PIE.”— KRISHNA TANUKU, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AT ISB’S WADHWANI CENTRE FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT

SUCCESS STRATEGY


keeps them from scaling up,” he says adding that a business like Uday’s needs a clear business plan and also should pay heed to customer expecta-tions. Tanuku says that from getting investors to setting up a distribution channel, a lack of understanding amongst people about the needs of creative ventures puts the creative entrepreneur in a tougher situation than other entrepreneurs.

He says that from another per-spective, creative ventures have the problem of measuring the customer needs.

"Customer perception for most cre-ative ventures differs from person to person, therefore the entrepreneur has to constantly think of ways to create value for the customer," he explains. Target a segment, not an individualUday designed a wall mural for the Goodrich Aerospace Services' Bengaluru of�ce, which is a global supplier of services and systems to the aerospace industry, on, not surpris-ingly, an aerospace theme. Chris Rao,

Vice-President, Goodrich, says that while Uday’s close involvement in the creative process helped him better explain what he was looking for, he adds this was probably the hindrance Uday faces in scaling up her business.

Tanuku has a de�nite opinion on this. He says that it is dif�cult to cre-ate a brand through customization. Entrepreneurs must look at customiz-ing for a market segment rather than customizing for individuals, he adds.

Jayesh Sachdev and Rixi Bhatia began Quirk Box to design apparel and accessories in 2010. Sachdev comes from a design and art background, while Bhatia comes from a pure fash-ion background.

Quirk Box’s Sachdev says that requests for creating customized designs come to them often but they steer away from taking on those proj-ects and focus on designing for their target segment.

It has helped, he says, keeping that focus. They began with a capital of ̀ 2.5 lakh in December 2010 and their �rst year turnover stood at `30 lakh.

My idea, my worryUday works with a team of 22 people and has one workshop and one retail outlet in Bengaluru. However, despite the immense nature of her work, she doesn't want to bring another designer on board. She says, “I am scared that my designs may be replicated or stolen.” But is there merit in Uday’s worries? Sachdev shares that prior to Quirk Box, he too faced the fear of ideas and designs being stolen. He also admits “it’s almost unavoidable in the creative industry”.

If ideas are stolen, Tanuku explains, and new ventures started, it helps the sector as a whole as more players bring in more competition. Thereafter, he says, the entrepreneur can build his brand not only through his designs but also through other aspects of the busi-ness like quality, delivery, service etc.

Stealing of ideas, Tanuku adds, is rampant in many industries. “Ideas are and were stolen often in the software industry as well.”

And we all know how the Indian software industry turned out.

NEW IDEAS: Madhu Uday (left) and Jayesh Sachdev

63Intelligent Entrepreneur October 2012To read more, grab the October 2012 issue of Entrepreneur


GETTING THERE

DIGITAL DREAMSCHRIS GEORGE is hoping to revolutionize the online marketing space

BINDI SHAH

[ GLOBAL MOVES ]

FORWARD LOOKING: Chris George

80 Intelligent Entrepreneur October 2012 Photo Joshua Navalkar

C hris George started his entre-preneurial journey when he was just 16. However, he changed

course many times before settling in to anchor a digital marketing services company, the EBS Worldwide Group, at the age of 28.

One thread that remains constant through the ups and downs of George’s journey is his vision and his ability to always stay ahead of the times. He was a pioneer in the Indian e-commerce space and chose to exit it even before others had entered the domain. When EBS got into the digital marketing space, Indian companies barely knew about the sector. He went global and catered to foreign markets from day one of starting out.

Danzig daysBorn and brought up in Mumbai, George’s �rst exposure to entrepre-neurship was in junior college where he organized the college festival suc-cessfully with a few other friends. This led to four college students coming together and forming an event man-agement company titled ‘Danzig,’ a partnership �rm. “We were making money,” says George, now 36, Group CEO at EBS Worldwide. The eventual passing away of one of his close friends and partners in the �rm led George to do some serious thinking. He chose to switch to business studies from the �eld of science and went on to the US to pursue a BBA and then an MBA.

“Like most Indian students in the US, I started working part-time at a gas station. That job was like a parallel education in entrepreneurship,” reveals George, adding that this was the �rst time he learnt to go right down to the basics of operations. After his MBA, George took up a job in the telecom sector in the US, but destiny had other ideas for him.

Back to baseA short trip to India in the Christmas of 1999 made him touch base with his partners at Danzig, which had shut down by then. One of them had joined Sony Music. His friend identi�ed an

opportunity for music distribution in India. This was a nascent area in India as music DVDs were only sold at select retail outlets.

“We decided to adopt a Domino’s kind of model. In essence, we were working towards a direct-to-consumer delivery model for music. We registered a toll-free number [we were only the second or third entity in the country to do so] and started our business,” he recollects. George says the �rst person he approached for help was Haresh Chawla (currently Partner, India Value Fund Advisors and former group CEO at Network18), who was then heading Times Music. “I requested Haresh to print our toll-free number along with his half-page ad in newspapers. That month, Times Music sold more CDs through us than through Rhythm House in Colaba, their prime point of sale,” explains George. This terri�c response was enough for George to

drop all plans of returning to the US and starting EasyBuyMusic in early 2000, an online portal that sold music directly to consumers.

E-commerce beckonsFor EasyBuyMusic, George approached Channel [V] for a partnership. Mahesh Murthy (Co-Founder, Seedfund), who was then with the channel, decided to fund George’s venture in his per-sonal capacity. He put in 4̀5 lakh and EasyBuyMusic got a boost to grow operations. George’s participation at a fundraising-VC event got the �rm Arthur Andersen, to notice him and the latter decided to incubate him. “I

spent long hours over the next seven months at the Arthur Andersen of�ce. They prepared the blueprint for my scale and growth,” says George. The folks at Anderson told George, “We’ll help you prepare for a roadshow; you raise money and then pay us”. ICICI Venture stepped in to fund George’s e-tailing venture in 2000. According to market sources, the venture fund put in about `6.7 crore into EasyBuyMusic then. Bala Deshpande, Senior MD, NEA, who was formerly with ICICI Venture, says that ICICI Venture had, at the turn of the century, taken multiple bets on the e-commerce play in keeping with the business sentiment at that time.

“The music industry was shaping up; both from a volume and value per-spective. EBS represented an opportu-nity to participate in this industry with the advantage of tapping the market with a reach-ef�cient internet model,” she says. After becoming a wholesaler of music, EasyBuyMusic evolved into EasyBuyStore, which sold various prod-ucts through the e-commerce model by 2003. But the story never really made it to its happy ending.

No juice in the squeeze“The juice was not worth the squeeze,” admits George. The founder realized that there was too little revenue com-ing in, as payment options like Cash-on-Delivery and credit card transactions turned to be unpro�table.

Deshpande admits EasyBuyStore was too early for its time. According to her, the market was barely born and the internet infrastructure challenges at that time were just too large to be ignored. George asked ICICI not to write him off while he revamped operations and looked for a new investor.

They cut down from 170 to 35 people in the next six months and EasyBuyStore was transformed into EasyBuyServices by 2004.

“We realized that we already had our technology platform and back-end in place. We understood the internet. Keeping this in mind, we stumbled upon a sweet spot where technology met marketing,” says George. According to

"EBS HAS ACCELERATED ITS BASE IN INDIA, BUT FACES COMPETITION FROM PLAYERS WHO STARTED MUCH LATER.”— CHRIS GEORGE, GROUP CEO, EBS WORLDWIDE

81Intelligent Entrepreneur October 2012To read more, grab the October 2012 issue of EntrepreneurTo Subscribe, visit www.entrepreneurindia.in

IF you were debating start-ing that social business of yours, perhaps now is the

time you should heed the angel on your shoulder to do the good deed. According to a study by Intellecap, a social busi-ness advisory major that works to bring entrepreneurial solutions to social organizations, social entrepreneurship in India really took off in 2005-06, and has grown exponentially since and will continue to grow at a fast clip.

Ganesh Rengaswamy, Partner at Lok Capital, an early stage investor focus-ing on �nancial and social inclusion tells us that when looking back on the social entrepreneurship space in the last three years, he can clearly see that things have changed.

“Social enterprises are coming of age in various sectors beyond micro-�nance - whether it is livelihood, edu-cation, energy, water, or health. Most of the endeavors are mature. Most of them are building a �nancially suc-cessful model along with a social goal,” he says.

The Intellecap report found that energy and agriculture have experi-enced the greatest growth in terms of the number of new enterprises since 2006. Other sectors that have shown growth in the social entrepreneur-ship space include health, livelihood development, water and sanitation. Education, on the other hand, is catch-ing up and appears poised for take-off.

Other cogs in the wheel are �nally and correctly falling in place, especially

in terms of investor interest. Impact investment funds are working closely with commercial investors to help social ventures get established. The government too is pitching in.

The National Innovation Council (NIC) has announced a `5,000 crore fund, which will support innovations in critical goods and services for the population living below the poverty line. The fund will operate as a pri-vate fund with a government stake of no more than 20 percent. According to the NIC, the fund will seed early-stage ideas and expand successful ones going forward, trying to plug the large gap in demand for capital and its availability for the sector to fully realize its potential.

The fund could maximize its impact and alleviate gaps in the funding land-scape by prioritizing investments in pilot-stage and startup enterprises, the government has said in the past.

The other biggest challenge social ventures face is being able to hire and retain talented employees. It's not really an attractive work life when you compare it to mainstream careers. A shortage of funds often restricts social ventures from being able to match sal-aries paid by larger companies. Many social enterprises also work in dif�-cult business terrains. Their business environments are de�cient of supply chain and distribution networks, and elaborate physical infrastructure.

Jayant Sinha, Managing Director at Omidyar Network India Advisors, says,

“The opportunity for social entrepre-neurs is immense in India since there are more than 850 million people sur-viving on less than $2 a day.”

But how has the opportunity unfolded on the ground? To search for that answer, Entrepreneur revisited three of the most promising social businesses featured over the last three years to see whether the winds of change have carried them towards their goals or farther away from them.

A microcosm of innovationWe featured Bengaluru-basedMicroGraam in February 2011 when the social enterprise was just a year old. A micro-credit venture, MicroGraam has been growing at a steady rate, unlike several ventures in this space, both in terms of impact and milestones.

“We have grown about 200 percent with regard to the number of people impacted,” says a proud Rangan Varadan, Co-Founder and CEO, MicroGraam. As of date, it has disbursed loans to 1,300 micro-entre-preneurs and students across 150 Self Help Groups (SHGs), up from 228 across 40-45 SHGs as reported last year, amounting to a grand total of `2.02 crore since they launched in March 2010. Its current loan out-standing stands at `1.36 crore.

The most noteworthy develop-ment has been an exit—a �rst for micro-venture capitalists. As reported in February 2011, one of its pilot programs on the micro-venture side

A Time for the Righteous

[ THE GOOD CIRCLE ]

India’s social business sector is finally coming of age as all the cogs in the wheel fall into place

SHONALI ADVANI & SHRUTI CHAKRABORTY

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR

92 Intelligent Entrepreneur September 2012

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was in the dairy segment. An SHG in Kolar bought 10 cows on a loan of `3 lakh for a three-year tenure on a pro�t-sharing model. “The investors in the dairy venture exited after two years with a net return on investment of 11 percent per annum,” says Varadan. The total pro�t for social investors amounted to `66,000.

Beginning January this year, MicroGraam has added health and sanitation as new areas of focus, largely avoided by traditional micro�-nance institutions, as it doesn’t gener-ate income for them. “We think it’s a critical issue which will directly result in income generation for bene�ciaries,” he notes.

In January, it helped 120 families in Tumkur, Karnataka build home toilets with a loan of `10,000 each, repayable over 18 months and hence created sig-ni�cant awareness around hygiene and health. It has extended this initiative

to drinking water in North Karnataka. “Ground water in this region has high �uoride content that leads to several ailments,” explains Varadan.

MicroGraam has developed a sus-tainable model to solve this problem in partnership with Gururaj Deshpande Foundation, NGO Sankalpa, and Aqua Sa� (the Indian arm of US-based non-pro�t organization H2O for Humanity).

This month MicroGraam will �nish

installing three water purifying units in Karnataka’s Gadak district, funded by social investors and set up by entre-preneurs identi�ed with the help of Gururaj Deshpande Foundation in 50-60 square feet sized community water shops. “Water will be sold at 4̀ to `5 for a 20 liter can—the average amount required per household for cooking and drinking,” he says.

Apart from the investment required, MicroGraam had a bigger challenge here—getting rural folk to pay for water, a basic necessity. “It required a change in mindset as water should be free,” he mentions.

It spent two months educating the community through street shows, engaging with gram panchayats and SHGs, highlighting the direct relation between good health and household income. It’s got the backing of six inves-tors who have together invested ̀ 6 lakh for three villages.

TAKING MICRO TO MACRO: MicroGraam's Rangan Varadan

PENNY WISE

Revenue 2011-'12: `1.2 lakh Revenue 2009-'10: `90,000 Number of loans disbursed till February 2011: 228 across 40-45 SHGsNumber of loans disbursed till August 2012: 1300 entrepreneurs and students across 150 SHGs.The Big Leap: 200% growth in terms of number of people impacted

93Intelligent Entrepreneur September 2012Photo Deepti Desai 93

IF you're an aspiring food entrepreneur and don't have the expertise or �nances to

start out with your own restaurant, owning a quick service restaurant (QSR) franchise may be just the thing for you.

There is little doubt that India's food and beverages services market is grow-ing rapidly. A recent Technopak report predicted that the sector would grow at 25 percent annually for the next few years.

Within the organized food market—estimated at a value of $1.9 billion in 2012—QSRs account for about $860 mil-lion. This is estimated to grow to over $2.2 billion by 2017, Pratichee Kapoor, Associate Vice President at Technopak Advisors says.

But don't let the name deceive you—the going is not all that quick. Some of the key challenges faced in general by the industry are availability of quality real estate in a suitable location and �nding a property size according to the QSR’s needs.

Not so quicklySince most QSRs need to be at prominent

locations, they almost always have the challenge of paying high rents and deposits to property owners. This makes it essential for the franchisees to focus on maintaining a healthy rent to sales ratio in their operations.

A lot of the procedures in QSRs are standardized. Many of the skills required in the employees are common—mean-ing that an employee at your franchise could easily work at another chain. This makes retaining employees a challenge. Employees have to see the incentive of working at your organization or they

could easily scoot off to a peer or rival.Managing delivery time is a key area

of focus for a QSR. However, this cannot mean that the restaurant cuts corners and provides a substandard product to the consumer. Quick turnaround, while

keeping quality, is the key to success for a QSR.

Also ensure that the brand you part-ner with is open to adapting to local tastes and the conditions in the imme-diate market. This can be a major factor in in�uencing the performance of your franchise.

We take a look at the models followed by some players in the QSR industry, specifying what it takes to become a franchisee, the support you will receive from the company, and the pro�ts you are likely to make.

Technopak’s Kapoor says that while a lot of people may want to get a slice of the pie, partnering with the right brands can largely determine your suc-cess or failure.

Kaati ZoneKaati Zone is an Indian QSR chain based and operated out of Bangalore. The company serves wraps and few other items on its menu. It is aiming to expand across India and abroad in the future.

“Currently we are focusing on the south and west of the country, where our supply chain is already working

QUICK

Opening up a quick service franchise? Partnering with the right brands and preparing your risk appetite is what the chef ordered

SHRUTI CHAKRABORTY

[ FAST FOOD ]

BITE


GO FRANCHISE

THE QSR MARKET WOULD GROW TO OVER $2.2 BILLION BY 2017 (SOURCE: TECHNOPAK ADVISORS)



HTC HAS DONE A lot of things right in its time in India, but the one thing we are miffed about is the delay with which it launched the One S here. Why they did so, is open to speculation. But our estimated guess is that it wanted to protect the sales of the One X—yes, the One S is good enough to dent the market for what we called “the best Android mobile device out there.”

We have had the One S for a month now and we are happy to report that HTC has not had any hiccups with the last of its ‘One’ range. To start off, we would like to clearly state our prefer-ence for the 4.3-inch screen over the 4.7–inch screen on the One X. It is just about the manageability of it. The One X’s size does not endear itself to all.

No body bluesThe One S is also an incredibly thin and light phone at about 7.8mm and 119g, with a smooth ceramic �nish that just feels right in your hands—without being �imsy. The screen is smaller,

but the Gorilla Glass goes edge-to-edge enhancing its visual appeal.

The front panel also houses the capacitive buttons as well as the front-facing VGA camera. Other than that, the body also houses a microUSB port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a speaker grill, and an 8MP camera with LED �ash. Unlike the One X however, the One S has a removable �ap for the microSIM. Like it though, there is no expanding the storage with a memory card slot.

Much like its older cousin, the screen accounts for a lot of the good that you would associate with the One S. Here you have a 540 x 960 pixel resolution screen exudes sharpness for images and text both. We dig it.

The One S comes with Android 4.0 along with Sense 4.0 skin running on top. If your read our review of the One X, you would know of all the right things about it—it is just a treat to work on. The interface is butter-smooth and swiping through screens is a breeze, even though the One S uses a chipset

different, and older, to the One X’s quad-core system.

Media and moreOn the audio-visual experience of things, the One S performs above par. The One S also incorporates a lot of connectivity options including 3G, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, and TV-out. HTC has also put in a lot of its own stuff in the One S including a Task Manager to kill apps and services, and Notes—that syncs with your Evernote account. The One S camera, to put it simply, is the One X camera—top of its class.

So what is our verdict? Compared to a peer device like that Sony Xperia S, the One S is simply a better phone. Compared to the One X? Yes, we would recommend it if you are not a stick-ler for large screens. It is cheaper by a few thousand as well. The only down-side in our book is the battery life—the older chipset is not as battery ef�cient, though you would not notice the differ-ence in using the phone.

[ ONE MORE ]

TECH DEPARTMENT

IN THE MIDDLE

ONE SPRICE `28,999DIMENSIONS 65 x 130.9 x 78 mmWEIGHT 119.5 gSCREEN Super AMOLED, 4.7 in,1366 x 768 pixels PROCESSOR Dual Core, 1.5 GhzS & M 16GB and 1GB RAM CONNECTIVITY Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNABATTERY 7 hrs on continuous use

The second of HTC’s One range of smartphones, but the last to come to India, packs a real hefty punch of its own

ANKUSH CHIBBER


[ ON WATCH ]

ideaForge has developed a product to assist defense and security forces in their activities by giving them a 'God's view' on things

SHRUTI CHAKRABORTY

AN EYE IN THE SKY

W hat would you do if you were given a product that could �y overhead and send you

images or a real-time video of what is happening around you within a radius of upto 2.5 kilometers? You could, per-haps, be thinking of deploying it to monitor your employees' work or take a peek at how the traf�c situation is up ahead or �nd out which route to take on a trekking trip. For reference you can think of a similar product used in the �lm 3 Idiots.

A few former students of IIT Bombay have developed a product capable of doing that, but the product is so far being provided only to defense forces, security agencies and para-military forces to help their operations on �eld.

Ankit Mehta, 29, Rahul Singh, Ashish Bhat, Amardeep Singh, 28, and Vipul Joshi, 30 are promoters of the startup ideaForge that has developed NETRA, an unmanned aerial vehicle in partnership with the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO).

Learning to flyThe initial work for setting up idea-Forge began while Mehta, Singh and Bhat were students at IIT Bombay. Mehta had joined IIT in the year 2000. The others were two years his junior

at the institute. What ties them all together, Mehta says, is that “we’re all crazy about technology.” While in IIT, as students they had worked on developing unmanned aerial vehicles. In 2004, the prototype of their product had failed miserably, Mehta admits.

The team continued working on developing a number of products and in 2005 had represented India in Robocon, a robotics contest in Beijing. Mehta had also �led a patent for a renewable energy product while in IIT, that the company was producing in its early days. The energy product has now taken a backseat as the team focuses on developing NETRA and taking it to the right markets.

Mehta, who is the CEO of the com-pany, graduated from his combined B. Tech and M.Tech degree from IIT in 2005. After a stint at a sales and marketing consulting �rm to gather some money to support him in his bootstrapping efforts, he got back to focusing on developing the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). In the meantime, Singh, who was studying at IIT, also worked on UAVs there. “Amardeep had done some self motivated work and was rather proactive and entrepre-neurial even as a student at IIT, which is why we saw in him an interesting partner” Mehta says.

In 2007, ideaForge was incorpo-rated and incubated at the Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at IIT Bombay. In the meantime, Mehta’s childhood friend Joshi completed his management education abroad and joined the team after a short stint at an automotive parts manufacturing

TECH ALERT

The GPS system allows the product to fly autonomously once it receives the instructions

The battery, fitted on top, allows it to fly for upto half an hour. Just below the battery is the brain of the product. It is a small and extremely light auto-pilot

The product flies with the help of four rotors. This helps easier take off and landing

A camera is fitted at the bottom. which is capable of taking video footage from various angles

A set of antenna send the footage gathered real time to the ground control platform

1

2

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104 Intelligent Entrepreneur October 2012 Photo Neha Mithbawkar

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW (l. to r.) Ankit Mehta, Vipul Joshi, Rahul Singh and Amardeep Singh

32

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1


[ ABOUT A GRAPE ]

UN VINO STORIAN ot many entrepreneurs start up

with 250 acres of owned-land, equipment imported from

Europe, and 4̀0 crore in funding—all without the backing of a venture capi-talist or angel investor.

You cannot argue with Fratelli Wines’ need to start big however, as their openly disclosed goal is to build a wine making company that can com-pete with the top international players in its space.

Fratelli’s roots go back to 2007 when Kapil Sekhri and his �ve part-ners decided to turn into vintners i.e. wine merchants. In all, the found-ing team is made up of three sets of brothers—Andrea and Alessio Secci, Kapil and Gaurav Sekhri, Ranjitsinh and Arjunsinh Mohite-Patil.

Hence the name Fratelli, which lit-erally means brothers in Italian. “To us it meant brotherhood,” says Kapil Sekhri, Co-Promoter and Director at Fratelli Wines.

Sekhri used to work with the Secci brothers' father in a business of export-ing footwear, because of which Sekhri had to travel to Italy often, which is when he says he developed a love for drinking wine.

The grapes to growDrinking is one thing, but no one really knew how to make wines. For this, the founders brought on board viticulture consultant Piero Masi, who is now a stakeholder in Fratelli Wines.

Next came the location, and the obvious choice was Maharashtra, where Nasik has been a hub of wine-making. After six months of research on the soil and other conditions, the team narrowed down on Akluj to set up the estate where they would grow the grapes. Today, their vineyards are spread across 250 acres at three sites in Motewadi, Garwad and Nimgaon.

The mother plants were brought to India from a nursery in France, which Sekhri claims is 130 years old and sup-plies to some of the best international wine makers across the globe.

“We moved half a million tonnes of soil for the vineyards. The vineyards

India's wine scene has a new entrant, and it is aiming big

SHRUTI CHAKRABORTY

START UPS

110 Intelligent Entrepreneur October 2012 Photo Neha Mithbawkar

"WE MOVED HALF A MILLION TONNES OF SOIL FOR THE VINE-YARDS. THE VINE-YARDS ARE THE HEART AND SOUL OF THE COMPANY." KAPIL SEKHRI, CO-PROMOTER AND DIRECTOR, FRATELLI WINES

129Intelligent Entrepreneur September 2012

but the ones we tried were good, if not anything special. The small fashion bites to go with your food are thought-

ful concoctions. We tried the green papaya prawn puchkas ( 4̀75), tandoori Wasabi curry leaf prawns ( 4̀75) and the goat cheese-smoked cashew cigaroll with chilli chutney ( 4̀00)—all innovative and �avorful. The rosemary glazed tava seekh kebabs ( 4̀50), however, was too full of masala and is best avoided, unless you pair it with cold beer. For the mains, we tried the fusion Indian items in which regular dishes are given a slight innovative touch, like the Patiala chicken with whisky �ambé (`650). But the taste here was not too different from that of a regular chicken gravy. The nariyal mirch jhinga (prawns in a yellow coconut-based gravy, `700) is a must-try, have it with steamed rice.

There are all the regular trappings, like different Indian breads, biryanis, pastas etc. Also on offer are naaninis ( 4̀80 onwards) and pizaans ( 4̀50 onwards); both variations of naans, the one created like paninis and the latter like pizzas with different toppings.

There are some continental dishes on the ‘world menu’ like the bourbon marinated chicken with a carrot and ginger mash (`950), the tandoori pesto cottage cheese ( 4̀75) and the �sh/cottage cheese marinated and cooked in wax paper (`950). Each of these items is like a signature dish; they are light yet �lling and can be paired with the wine on offer here. When at the F Lounge.Diner.Bar, always leave space in your stomach for the desserts. Each of these are highly recommended; try the Bailey’s kul� with tiny gulab jamuns and a blueberry cashew on top of the kul� (`600), or the mango rasmalai lasagna with blue curacao rabdi (`600)

where the traditional Indian sweet is sandwiched between two layers of mango slices.

It is these innovative dishes and the ultra-chic interiors that have

made this newcomer to the Mumbai gastronomical scene such a big success already. But do we like the constant FTV ramp show that plays on the wide screen like a bar along one part of the restaurant? Not really, but that is quite a minor sore blot on an otherwise great meal.

De Villa, New DelhiSituated in Hauz Khas Village in the national capital, De Villa is cricketer Ashish Nehra and his brother Bhanu Nehra’s attempt at entering the culinary scene in Delhi. The restaurant serves usual cocktails like Pina Colada (`550), Margharita ( 4̀50) and Long Island Iced Tea (`550) but go for the unusual ones like the Cucumber Mojito (`550).

If you don’t prefer alcohol, try Dew Drop (`175); this mocktail is a must-have in the Delhi summers. The hookahs here have interesting �avors like the Pan Rasna and Red Bull ones.

For starters, try the Hongos Cigarro/mushroom cigars (`275) which are enhanced with apricot and served in vodka glasses. The non-vegetarian mezze platter ( 4̀25) includes pita bread, kibbeh, meat fatiyaar and chicken wings, but it’s not special. The platter was served with hummus, babaganoush, tabbouleh and tzatziki—all of which were nice but not innovative. An ‘exclusive’ at De Villa is the nazza—a combination of naan base and pizza toppings. We tried the

DINE OUT IN DELHI1. Lamb rack2. Veg mezze platter3. De Villa’s second �oor

1

2

3

UN VINO STORIA

THE WINEMAKERS: (left to right) Alessio Secci, Arjunsinh Mohite-Patil, Kapil Sekhri and Piero Masi

are the heart and soul of the �rm. We knew that if the grapes are good you will make a good wine, but if they are bad, even a magician can't make it into a good wine,” he says. It was in December 2007 that the �rst plantation went on ground. The second went on ground in 2008.

Sommelier Nikhil Aggarwal says that the company is quality conscious and having their own vineyards enables them to supervise quality thoroughly.

For the winery, the company imported 58 tanks of varying capacity, to make the wines, from Velo, Italy. The winery has been designed and built by architects Sunil Patil and associates, and the �rst batch of Fratelli wines rolled out in 2010.

The wine to drinkFratelli’s winery has a capacity of 80,000 cases, for which case is 9 liters and each bottle is priced between 4̀60 to `1650. The cheapest of its brands are the Classic Chenin (white wine) and the Classic Shiraz (red wine). The Sette is Fratelli’s most expensive offering.

The wines are priced competitively when compared to other Indian wines, but Sekhri emphasizes that the wines were not priced looking at the other wines available In India. “We did our pricing not looking at competition, but thinking as consumers. We considered what a consumer would pay for it.”

When they launched in 2010, Fratelli had three varieties of their wines and there are now 10 varieties available in the market. The company will launch two more varieties this year. The com-pany informs us that it has also won �ve international awards for its variet-ies including the Chardonnay 2011 and Chenin Blanc 2011.

Sales have been good so far. In 2011, the company sold 10,500 cases of wine and is looking to sell 40,000 cases this year. “We should be able to sell 30,000 cases this year comfortably,” Sekhri says. The company clocked a turnover of 4̀ crore last year and is targeting a turnover of `10 crore this year. Sekhri says that operational break-even will happen by this �nancial year.


Do you have what it takesto be a young millionaire?

Check all that apply, then add up the points to determine if you’re millionaire material

BY ROSS MCCAMMON

1. Are you young?A. Yes (5)B. No (-100)C. No, but I’m spry! (-50) 2. Are you currently or have you ever been worth $1 million?A. No (0)B. Yes (100) 3. How amped are you right now?A. Not all that amped. You? (-5)B. Totally (3)C. TO-tally (-5) 4. Do you currently make more than $75,000 a year and save at least 15 percent each month?A. Yes (10)B. No (0) 5. 401(k)?A. Yes (5)B. No (-5) 6. Quick, here’s an asset!A. Buy it! (2)B. Appreciate it! (2)C. Protect it! (2)D. Do all three! (10) 7. When you hear the term “hedge fund” you think:A. A little money set aside for land-scaping (-5)B. A speculative investing portfolio involving high risk and a very large initial investment (1) 8. Which word best describes this photo?

A. Mountains (0)B. Sunset (0)C. Success (4) 9. While growing up, you had a favorite:A. Stuffed animal (0)B. Horse (10)

10. Which activity do you most enjoy?A. Hemming (-5)B.Hawing (-5)C. None of the above (0) 11. Which of the following stocks have you purchased in the last five years?A. Priceline.com (50)B. Apple (40)C. Facebook (?!)D. Other (0) 12. Which set of zeros seems most appealing? A. 00 (0)B. 000 (0)C. 0000 (0)D. 00000 (0)E. 000000 (10) 13. Who’s your favorite notable American?

A. (0)

B. (0)

C. (0)

D. (0)

E. (0)

F. (0)

G.(100)

14. Which of the following virtues do you possess?A. Hunger (2)B. Drive (2)C. Prudence (2)D. Patience (2) 15. Did the last question make you think about going to Taco Bell?A. Yes (-3)B. No (1) 16. What comes to mind when you think back on your college experience?

A. Ivy (10)B. Other green plant (-10) 17. Choose a boat:

A. (10)

B. (8)

C. (6)

D. (4)

E. (0)

18. Choose a boat name:A. Knot Paid IV (-1)B. Aquaholic (-1)C. Lamberdinghy (-1)D. Feelin’ Nauti (-1)E. Wake Me When It’s Over (-1)F. Sea –E-O (5) 19. Which of these two self-help books seems most up your alley?A. Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth by T. Harv Eker (8)B. The Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living by Mark Boyle (-2) 20. In your professional life, do you go by your first initial and your middle and last names?A. Yes (5)B. No (0) 21. Might you be T. Harv Eker?A. Yes (20)B. No (0) 22. You consider an empty store-front to be:A. Urban blight (0)B. A thing of beauty (2) 23. You consider the walk-in freezer in that empty storefront to be:

A. A metaphor for a cold world (0)B. One less thing you have to purchase to get a restaurant off the ground (4)

24. Describe this glass:A. Half empty (-5)B. Half full (5)C. Hello? Coaster?! (-10)

25. Building wealth is most like…A. Climbing a mountain (2)B. Rowing a river (-2)C. Thinking about climbing a moun-tain or rowing a river- while lying in a hammock (-5) 26. What are you most likely to do with a pile of cash?A. Invest it (4)B. Spend it (-1)C. Sit atop it and giggle (-3)D. Ignite it to provide light and warmth (-10) 27. Here’s what I need you to do. I need you to take this briefcase. Then I need you to get a flight from JFK to Belgium and meet up with a guy named Janssens. Give him the briefcase. Then lie low for a little while. And don’t ask any ques-tions. When you get back, I’ll give you $1 million. Also, Janssens can be a little prickly.A. No (0)B. Newark is slightly more conve-nient for me, especially on week-ends (-20)C. Done (30)

KEY

LESS THAN 0 POINTS: “Hundredaire” is not really a thing. 1 TO 50 POINTS: That’s hunger, drive, prudence and patience. And maybe a little fear. 51 TO 100 POINTS: One word: biotech. MORE THAN 100 POINTS: You did not need to take this quiz.

ROSS McCAMMON is an articles editor at Esquire and a regular contributor to Entrepreneur

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