ArticlesJet Engine � eory

Is the Business Plan Dead?Into the Wild...

InterviewsHarshavardhan Neotia

Kanth MiriyalaAparna Banerjee...

Get Inspiredfrom Project Sukanya and

DLM founders+

Entrepreneurial Stories &

Testimonials...

Post Graduate Programme for Certificate in Entrepreneurship Management

(PGP-CEM) 2013-14

1st Edition

� e Big Picture Risks in Women Entrepreneurship Co-operative Vision

EDC (XLRI) Magazine

RISKSVISION

BIGWEALTHINNOVATESOCIETY

DARE

contents12 � e Big Picture

16 Is the Business Plan Dead?

11 Fire in the Belly

14 Power the Point!

10 Into the Wild

21 Jet Engine � eory

22 Connect to Inner Net

24 Co-operative Vision

26 Kanth Miriyala Interview

28 � e Risk in Women Entrepreneurship

32 Entrepreneur FAQs

34 How to Close a Deal

35 Memorias Por Siempre

36 Real Estate in India44 Gallery

30 Digital Literacy Mission

08 Lessons from a B-school

The biggest risk is not taking any risk... In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks. - Mark Zuckerberg

The idea of this magazine came up on the tea table – the very place where many of the students in the Entrepre-neurship Management programme came up with new business ideas and exchanged varied viewpoints on one another’s business plans. A melting pot of rich discussions, arguments and counter-arguments is what made this ex-perience a value addition in our lives.

And perhaps to pen down this journey and our person-al takeaways from this programme and to stress on the trends in entrepreneurship development, this is an earnest attempt of the students at the Entrepreneurship Develop-ment Centre, XLRI, Jamshedpur.

As the editorial team, it gives us immense pleasure to take up this challenge to be able to create a platform where the budding entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds come to-gether and opine on substantive aspects of the entrepre-neurial ambitions and experiences.

“Entrepreneurs need to have the fire in the belly” - with these words often reiterated by Prof. Prabal K. Sen, the EDC Chairperson, we attempted to build a pathway that will serve as a robust literature based on what the entrepre-neurs of today think and how the world is expected to re-spond to the transformational changes that will shape the business ecosystem in the future.

We have keenly endeavored to bring together articles from students, professors, entrepreneurs and family business members in various fields of entrepreneurship so as to de-pict a holistic picture of the entrepreneurial trends in India. Through this magazine we hope to bridge the gap that we believe currently exists between classroom study and prac-ticality; and continue to keep coming up with various entre-preneurial topics each year. Happy Reading! Team VergeHarsh Singrodia - Principal EditorSiddhant Bhatia - Design EditorAnshul Dhir - EditorSomrwita Guha - Editor

editorial

18 Harshavardhan Neotia Interview

38 Aparna Banerjee Interview

40 Entrepreneurial Stories

43 Testimonials

09 Emerging Sectors in Entrepreneurship

XLRI is the oldest business school in India. The mission of the Institute, among other things, aims at encouraging entrepre-neurship and social consciousness. It is against this background that a new initiative in the form of a Post Graduate Programme for Certificate in Entrepreneur-ship Management (PGP-CEM) was launched by the Institute’s Entrepreneurship Development Centre (EDC) in 2009 in order to provide competency-based education to eligible candidates with a view to promoting entrepreneurship in Jharkhand and rest of the country. Three batches of the programme have by now graduated. The fourth round of this innovative programme on Entrepreneur-ship Management is on the threshold of completion, with its Graduation Ceremony scheduled to be held on April 05, 2014. I note with great satisfaction that a vast majority of those who have gone through the programme, have turned out to be successful entrepreneurs in various sectors of the economy across different parts of the country. We in XLRI therefore feel good that our desire to promote entrepreneurship among the youth through launching of PGP-CEM has largely been realized.

I wish all graduates of this programme of XLRI a meaningful entrepreneurial career.

(Fr E. Abraham, SJ PhD)Director XLRI, Jamshedpur

Message from the Director of XLRI

6 | verge

With the introduction of a full-time Post Graduate Programme for Certificate in Entrepreneurship Management (PGP-CEM) by the Entrepreneurship Development Centre (EDC) of XLRI in 2009, XLRI has made its entry into the exclusive group of a limited number of premier business schools across the world which run such innovative programmes apart from the usual programmes in business management.

Our objective in launching this programme has been to generate a breed of entrepreneurs who are equipped with conceptual as well operational skills required for running an entrepreneurial venture successfully. The courses included in the curricu-lum have therefore been carefully designed so as to build the foundation of an entrepreneurial orientation, impart neces-sary skills and instill an integrative approach among the graduates. Apart from three Classroom Terms used for teaching 24 different courses thus included in the curriculum, a module on formulation of a an entrepreneurial project by each of the students in a field of his/her choice under the mentorship of a faculty member proficient in the respective field, constitutes an integral part of the programme.

Efforts are made to organize from time to time interactive sessions with entrepreneurs working in diverse areas of the economy, so as to sensitize the students on the real-time issues encountered in course of execution of an entrepreneurial venture.

EDC also encourages students to take initiatives of their own which are aimed at generating a conducive ecosystem for pro-motion of entrepreneurial spirit among the youth, in general, and the student community of the Institute, in particular. The efforts of the PGP-CEM 2013-14 batch (under the leadership of Harsh Singrodia) in bringing out a Magazine, titled VERGE, on the occasion of the graduation of the batch, is an instance in hand.

I compliment Harsh and his batch mates on their admirable initiative and take pleasure in formally releasing the maiden issue of the Magazine, VERGE.

(Prof. Prabal K. Sen) Chairperson, Entrepreneurship Development Centre (EDC), XLRI Jamshedpur

Message from the Chairperson of EDC

7 | verge

Fundamentals of business and a broader understanding of the business world with lessons from the past and the present is a typical recipe served by a b-school. The

method used is generally the Socratic Method (mostly cases studies from reputed colleges like HBS and Stanford, and questioning the subject matter & the actions of the charac-ters in the cases). I’ve outlined a few examples from each of the key subjects that I thought were very insightful (certainly not a complete list but gives you a flavour). I’m just append-ing to their list based on my personal experience.Here is a short primer on a few important lessons that I learned in each of the subjects.

Finance, Accounting and Valuation: Looking beyond the numbersOther than the rudimentary financial statements and under-standing certain rules that are followed (and aren’t by some companies). For instance: How to value any company/start-up and justify its valuation using a strong balanced quan-titative and qualitative approach. Not just what the market bears (what the market can bear to begin with if you are the trailblazer). Comps analysis, DCF (Discounted cash flows), TVM (Time Value), how to value start-up equity quantitative-ly, how to calculate risk (beta) in a business.

Conundrum between innovation and stability and how to beat the trapFinding the right balance between the innovative aspect of a startup in terms of cost and operability and the attached equity.

Strategy, economics theory and Network EffectStrategy: Michael Porter’s 5 forces theory on Industry re-search. All strategy is competitive strategy.Economics: Basics, Demand/Supply, value of game theory in decision making - market entry, new products, profitability, growth and sustainability, network effect, principles, so-cio-economics, etc.Marketing: What makes it so hard and misunderstood? Most start-ups get this wrong. This is where the product meets the market.

Data based analysis or Ops researchIn this day of Analytics and Big Data, it is important to rely on your own data and use it in conjunction with reliable sourc-es to drive insights based decision making. Management is really a decision science and the availability of statistically meaningful data makes it even more important as a com-petitive differentiator. Less arbitrary management decision making and more rational, data based approaches makes us a smarter species. Everything from fault tolerant computing to buffer planning in any project boils down to concepts in risk management and learning about planning for unexpect-ed (random probability) events.

Value of Leadership, People and CultureIn a start-up or in any company, organization, country, etc. B school teaches more about company building and less about product building (I’d guess B or C round in valley start-up parlance).

Lessons to learn from entrepreneurs Every entrepreneur is a leader. The jockey (team) is more important than the horse (idea). There is no I or YOU in market research - iterate to fit the market, be a sponge - entrepreneurs learn something from everybody, everything, every day. Managers and Leaders are distinct players - very few managers become good leaders. Managers are taught to minimize risk, build stability and manage incremental growth - these terms don’t exist in the vocabulary of an entrepre-neur.

Lessons from Leaders and their mistakes Leadership in organizations and Essence of leadership. How to make decisions for companies and for yourself. One can easily track wisdom in lessons from Jack Welch to Vinod Khosla to Gandhi to Julius Caesar to Margaret Thatcher, etc.

Professional Responsibility, Ethics and the LawWho are you a fiduciary to and for what are you a fiduciary to? What to do and what not to do in difficult ethical situa-tions when on company, not-for-profit boards or generally in sticky situations? How to prioritize and analyse your duties and responsibilities? How laws have been formed in different countries - think of wage and employment laws in China, Brazil, African countries, SE Asia - Nike, Gap and child labour laws, etc. Basics of law - Jurisdiction, IP, business and em-ployment laws, contract law, conflicts of interest, etc.The goal is to make decisions based on what is economically viable, profit and value maximizing, professionally responsi-ble, legally defensible and ethically fair, by the way something truly innovative generally is. They may not appear that way in the short term but always is in the long term. Finally, a good B-school/professors embed in their students ‘The known unknowns and the unknown unknowns’ - the sense of awareness of what they know that they don’t know and what they don’t know that they don’t know and more importantly what to do in those situations. Good B-schools have a good balance of both hard and soft skills.Finally, B school is a reservoir of knowledge and connections - depends on your aptitude, attitude, intellectual curiosity and intellectual honesty - what you can pick and what you can’t/don’t.

-Vivek Sharma is a student of present batch of PGP-CEM 2013-2014 at EDC XLRI, is endowed with more than 10 years of experi-ence in mining & quarrying industry.

Lessons from a B-schoolby Vivek Sharma

8 | verge

Emerging Sectors in Entrepreneurshipby G.Subramanian

Etrepreneurship is not about innovation, it is about or-ganization building, thus people. All of us aspire to be entrepreneurs for personal gratification or sense of

achievement. The Entrepreneurship journey need not start in the high tech labs as it can be as simple as solving a problem of common nature. Entrepreneurship is not bound by what exists and is about what we dream as that limits our horizon. When in year 2000 (Y2K) problem hit the world, many of us were still in school to feel the euphoria it created. It is true, to major extent we were immune to Y2K for the reason of lim-ited computer penetration and analog systems constituting the core. Adversity has turned into an opportunity here.

As a populous country, with economy growing at a rate sar-castically referred as Hindu rate of growth (i.e.3 %) until few years back and India joining the digital revolution with mobiles totting youth synonyms India’s aspiration, silent revolution on the Agriculture and Dairy development, Retail giants making beeline to India, Global Automobile companies pitchforked tent to make India a manufacturing hub, Direct To Home(DTH) antennas dotting India Skyline, India is poised to become a land of opportunity.

The economic reforms initiated in the year 1991 exposed In-dian companies to global competition and this necessitated a strong entrepreneur ecosystem for being globally compet-itive.

The emerging sectors in entrepreneurship

India, one of the burgeoning economies, has a distinct glob-al competitive advantage in terms of cost and quality. While the picture of India is known through press for its dominance in software and business process outsourcing, the scale and market opportunities in India are much more extensive and very appealing.

Newly established and mid-sized companies provide inno-vation and cost-effective operations which hold the key to meeting the global challenge of rising demand from developed countries and competition from other developing economies in many emerging markets such as infrastructure, Healthcare, education, energy, pharmaceuticals, and food processing.

Infrastructure - $1 trillion: The amount of money projected to be spent on infrastructure development over the next five years (i.e. by 2017), nearly half of which is expected to come from the private sector.

Energy - 400%: The expected rise in energy demand by 2030, exacerbating an already significant energy deficit.

Health Care - 9: The number of hospital beds in India per

10,000 people, putting India 64th out of 194 countries sur-veyed by the WHO.

48%: The percentage of Indians who are chronically malnour-ished.

Manufacturing - 36%: The percentage of jobs that remains va-cant in India’s automotive manufacturing sector due to a lack of qualified candidates.

100 million: The number of manufacturing sector jobs the gov-ernment hopes to create over the next decade (i.e. by 2022).

10: India’s global rank in terms of manufacturing (by share of nominal gross value added).

Education and Human Capital - 800 million: The number of Indians currently under the age of 35 (i.e. by 2012), a demo-graphic dividend that could help spur further economic pro-ductivity and growth.

1,000 and 50,000: The number of universities and colleges (re-spectively) that India will need to create in order to meet the government’s goal of adding 10 million new seats in higher education.

Food Processing - According to the data by APEDA (Agricul-tural & Processed Food Export Development Authority), In-dia’s agro and processed food exports spiralled up to 63% in the FY 2012-13 to $16.96 Billion.

According to CII-McKinsey report, the processed food industry is expected to expand by 9% every year, and reach $100.19 bil-lion (Rs.6 Lakh Crores) by 2030.

Pharmaceutical - India’s pharmaceutical sector will touch US$ 45 billion by 2020, according to a major study by global man-agement and consulting firm, McKinsey & Company.

In the period 2002–2012, the country’s healthcare sector grew three times in size, touching US$ 70 billion from US$ 23 billion.

India’s pharmaceutical market experienced a similar boom, reaching US$ 18 billion in 2012 from US$6 billion in 2005. The report further states that the Indian pharmaceutical market will be the sixth largest in the world by 2020.

IT / ITES industry - India’s IT-business process outsourcing (BPO) industry revenue is expected to cross US$ 225 billion mark by 2020, according to a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) report, titled ‘The SMAC Code-Embracing New Technolo-gies for Future Business’.

-G. Subramanian is a student of current batch of PGP-CEM at XLRI. He has been working in the IT sector since the last 15 years.

9 | verge

Those mist-colour mountains, oblivious trees, falling leaves dust covered wardrobes looked like the ulti-mate poet’s den. But for some alien reason I did not

end up doing justice to it. Finally, towards the fag end of the programme I found an occasion to write; and that too for a commendable initiative. A Thank You is too mainstream, so I’d abstain myself from it.

The So-Far-So-Good history behind me being lucky enough to meet a host of beautiful people at this place dates back to 2009. I was Nineteen and impregnated with my brainchild. It was an overtly premature baby and took three long years to enter school. Embracing it perhaps too passionately, I met a room full of equally starry-eyed parents (well, not all of them). At some level, they were/are nurturing their own baby ideas. From 20s to 50s, from Engineers to Account-ants and Bankers to Dreamers, from Hisar to Chennai and Jhumri to Bombay, from strict vegetarians to even stricter non-vegetarians if anyone ever had to cite an apt example for diversity, it would be PGP-CEM 13-14.

Twenty-four courses thrown into six months with some of the best of Professors (Yes, A Tale of Two Cities style), pow-er point presentations galore, moderate quizzes, heated to lukewarm class discussions, and hiccupped case-studies left most of us stammering in the face of probability. The coin once tossed soon showed its other side too: it released the wolves into the wild, with or without the presence of spirit people danced like there was no tomorrow. A rath-er happening maiden Term led to an excessively relaxed Second Term where the only preparation before end-term exams for some people was around the Carrom Table.

Though that was not the only table around which friend-ships sparked. One of the other tables witnessed not just bonds but undesirably sweetened Koftas and unimaginably spicy Biryanis. On some other days, it was just merely bland only till the talks around it added the desired salt, lemon, butter or whatever ingredient it needed to make it taste better; while right outside a fire lit with broken branches won its battle against an asthmatic winter wind whistling the beginning of an end. Half a year is perhaps too short or too long to be at a place like this. I do not know which one it is for you. For me, it’s neither. Instead it is the upris-ing of Spring and the reluctance to count until it turns zero. Apologies for a rather clichéd end-ing in the disguise of my echoing fingertips. We are here to build something; to inject life into our still-born ideas so that our brainchildren stand the test of time. People will write their own stories about you but never be written off by them. Make sure you write your own because in the end that’s the only one that will matter. It is funny how ridiculously big your dreams actually are; funnier still how ridiculously real they’d become sometime soon. All you need is to be crazy enough to believe in it; to be mad enough to live that forgotten boyhood dream and take that walk on the wild side. For it doesn’t matter if you are small today as long as you’re sure you’d make it large someday.

-Somrwita Guha is a student of the current batch of PGP-CEM at XLRI. She is the founder of Papercup, a lifestyle accessory brand.

Into the Wildby Somrwita Guha

The first day I walked into this place I knew that it had the potential to bring a closure to all the writ-er’s block that I have had for Twenty-three years.

10 | verge

The young mind overflows with entrepreneuri-al ambitions and there is a time when the fail-ure is not an option – winning is the only choice.

When I joined the Entrepreneurship Management pro-gramme, I had a single-minded focus on learning the paradigm of growth strategies for my family business.

It almost turns out to be a case of absolute melodra-ma when it comes to conjoining the institutions of family and the business. When it comes to one’s own venture, it perhaps the fire in the belly – the passion for achiev-ing the entrepreneurial feats is a personal or partnership consequence. In a family business, the fire in the bel-ly should be envisaged as a shared sensation. It is not an individual or partners to a venture who need the passion to drive forth a company’s fortune, it is the entire fami-ly or at least key members in decision-making including a handful of trusted employees that play pivotal roles.

My family business is the pioneer in manufacturing of um-brellas in India and established in 1882. With more than a century of legacy, Mohendra Dutt & Sons has had a stag-nant financial position over the last decade. Although, there have been few variations on the financial statements, the lion’s share of which can be attributed to ad hoc bulk or-ders during the years. It is not that the company is not making profits or that it does not have a market stand-ing, but the fire in the belly is somehow something that needs to be rethought. The monotony of stagnancy has cribbed the thought process to view the larger view of the changing world. Most people in family businesses would agree that the stakeholders in decision-making often have views that seem not in sync with our worldview. The young mind perceive things differently and the world has shifted from what was the story of past. Although, none in our generation really complains about the logicality of the approach of the previous but it’s just that we want to do things in our new way that sets out our special identity – that is purpose-based on our aspirations of the business. It is like we are on the same boat but sailing on different directions, may be leading to the same destination. And I am sure you know what would be the result – standstill.

So how do we go from here?

Family businesses are frugal in their disposition and hence they need time to change. Drastic highs and commen-surate falls are not in the DNA of family businesses. And quite rightly so, the fire in the belly if not shared amongst the stakeholders of the family business, will ultimately burn

out the one who possesses the fire. In fact, many family businesses have run out rejuvenated passion, many had to professionalise and many had closed down after younger members refused to take up the baton. Ever thought why most family businesses survive a maximum of 3 genera-tions! Resistance to positive change is a deterrent to in-fusion of new ideas and the cause of loss of relevance vis-à-vis the transformation in the business environment.

Bringing the organisational participants to think in the same lines as the new generation is a challenge in itself. It is a challenge not only to convince them but also to prove one’s worth in terms of getting the same, if not more, levels of resultant outcome as achieved in the older times. We are a generation that wants fast change because that is what we have experienced all through our life and we know that the consumer behaviour is likely to take a makeover with these new developments in almost all aspects of life. It is also worthwhile to say that we are great at presentation and putting down a business plan on our laptops – some-times appearing pretty fancy – most of which turn out to be verbose and contain little substance for real change. But it is in our endeavour to get it right on paper and undoubted-ly what’s wrong on paper will always be wrong in practice.

Through the enriching experience during the programme with professors and the batch mates, most of whom are from the industry and a number of them scions in family busi-nesses have aided me to develop my own mantra of growth in a family business. I have learnt that drastic growth is not something that is on the agenda – it is a matter of concerted and steady efforts to bring the stakeholders on the table to discuss contentions and explain the logical framework for any change that is incidental or essential for business growth to go beyond the current orbit. Let’s hope, this five generation family business successfully manages to grow for another five. Connect the dots and see it for yourself if you can grow just with the fire in the belly or do you need a bit more when the family business asserts its own charac-ter. Just do not end up burning your own belly in the process.

-Subhashis Dutt is a student of the current batch of PGP-CEM at XLRI. He also helps his father in the family business of manufac-turing umbrellas.

paradigm of growth strategies for my family business.

It almost turns out to be a case of absolute melodra-ma when it comes to conjoining the institutions of family and the business. When it comes to one’s own venture, it perhaps the fire in the belly – the passion for achiev-ing the entrepreneurial feats is a personal or partnership consequence. In a family business, the fire in the bel-ly should be envisaged as a shared sensation. It is not an individual or partners to a venture who need the passion to drive forth a company’s fortune, it is the entire fami-ly or at least key members in decision-making including a handful of trusted employees that play pivotal roles.

My family business is the pioneer in manufacturing of um-brellas in India and established in 1882. With more than a century of legacy, Mohendra Dutt & Sons has had a stag-nant financial position over the last decade. Although, there have been few variations on the financial statements, the lion’s share of which can be attributed to ad hoc bulk or-ders during the years. It is not that the company is not making profits or that it does not have a market stand-ing, but the fire in the belly is somehow something that needs to be rethought. The monotony of stagnancy has cribbed the thought process to view the larger view of the changing world. Most people in family businesses would agree that the stakeholders in decision-making often have views that seem not in sync with our worldview. The young mind perceive things differently and the world has shifted from what was the story of past. Although, none in our generation really complains about the logicality of the approach of the previous but it’s just that we want to do things in our new way that sets out our special identity – that is purpose-based on our aspirations of the business.

tions! Resistance to positive change is a deterrent to in-fusion of new ideas and the cause of loss of relevance vis-à-vis the transformation in the business environment.

Bringing the organisational participants to think in the same lines as the new generation is a challenge in itself. It is a challenge not only to convince them but also to prove one’s worth in terms of getting the same, if not more, levels of resultant outcome as achieved in the older times. We are a generation that wants fast change because that is what we have experienced all through our life and we know that the consumer behaviour is likely to take a makeover with these new developments in almost all aspects of life. It is also worthwhile to say that we are great at presentation and putting down a business plan on our laptops – some-times appearing pretty fancy – most of which turn out to be verbose and contain little substance for real change. But it is in our endeavour to get it right on paper and undoubted-ly what’s wrong on paper will always be wrong in practice.

Through the enriching experience during the programme with professors and the batch mates, most of whom are from the industry and a number of them scions in family busi-nesses have aided me to develop my own mantra of growth in a family business. I have learnt that drastic growth is not something that is on the agenda – it is a matter of concerted and steady efforts to bring the stakeholders on the table to discuss contentions and explain the logical framework for any change that is incidental or essential for business growth to go beyond the current orbit. Let’s hope, this five generation family business successfully manages to grow for another five. Connect the dots and see it for yourself if you can grow just with the fire in the belly or do you need a bit more when the family business asserts its own charac-

Growth is an aspect that every business wants to achieve. You must be wondering what has that to do with fire al-most burning the belly.

� re in the bellyby Subhashis Dutt

11 | verge

The Big Picture by Shruti Bharath

As I write this post, trying to encapsulate my journey as an entrepreneur, a single lesson cuts across all my experiences so far. It starts at the beginning, as all

good stories do, when my proverbial ‘leap’ was followed by a brief but life changing experience at XLRI, as a student of the Entrepreneurship Management Course in 2012. I cannot be-gin to represent the feelings of all my peers and friends, but I can affirm that we all came away with a wealth of under-standing. The course, as many know, is an introduction to the various aspects of business that any entrepreneur must consider, as she makes strategic and operational decisions to start up or scale up. Delivered in the healthy setting of a reputed business school, each course was professionally delivered with critical business management concepts and insights.The atmosphere already conducive to learning and shaping active minds was the perfect ambience for much brainstorming and group dynamics. It was here that I was further introduced to this concept of ‘social’ entrepreneur-ship and hybrid businesses. Though I can argue that any and all entrepreneurship or business should in effect be for social good – as it fulfills a realized need for some section of society – social entrepreneurship distinguishes itself in

setting out to fulfill the needs of the underserved or disad-vantage without necessarily having them be the actual cus-tomer. Needless to say, Prof. Madhukar Shukla was instru-mental in this learning for me, with each of his ten lectures never straying from the basic reality we live in as Indians. His class was a resensitization for me – an entrepreneur firmly invested in creating smart, workable solutions in the areas of rural population development and livelihood cre-ation through the generation of sustainable employment opportunities leveraging indigenous skills, crafts and entre-preneurial potential. Developmental journalism and report-ing also forms an integral part of my solution statement.

The key to making the most of any learning experience is to derive the most from con-ventional wisdom and not being afraid to repurpose this as your own. Attitude is everything. Being truly open and receptive to what every interaction or experience teach-es you, is key to being an entrepreneur in an age where the almost selfish pursuit of your own interests may prove detrimental to it. Never be above getting your hands dirty or be-ing open to lessons from everyone around you. Learning comes a full circle with its application.

12 | verge

Every single professor, across disciplines, added fresh dimen-sions to our thinking and rendered immense value to our in-dividual ideas and pursuits. Prof. Prabal K Sen has and will always be, the most kind and learned mentor I will ever have, and that this experience brought me in connection with him is a reward in itself. However XLRI was just the beginning of this journey. I then went on to be inducted as an IDEX Fel-low, a global fellowship program that serves as an accelerator launch pad for aspiring social entrepreneurs, investing millions of dollars in deploying human capital to working solutions and startups in developing countries. Through this fellowship, I continued my education and immersion as a working social entrepreneur. I worked full time with two enterprises – one that used technology interventions to enable better employ-ment opportunities for low income or disorganized sector job seekers and another media platform that reported on devel-opmental solutions and social businesses across India. I spent every spare hour, applying this working knowledge into my own business. Through my travels, fieldwork and numerous interactions with several inspired individuals in this space, my already overwhelming passion, blazed brighter than ever. Opening myself up to people, their lessons and their wis-dom gave me an opportunity to open doors for myself I did not know existed. Getting my hands ‘dirty’ with all manner of project work, put my understanding of the social problem I am trying to help fix, to test. But above all else, I began to make much smarter decisions about what I could and should do. Each step I take, whether to study, consult on projects, and amplify efforts on my own projects is with an eye on the

bigger picture. I am very strategic about my learning pursuits and the way my time is allocated to every project I undertake. I know to use my strengths to the maximum and ask for help where I need it. Even though my risk appetite is quite large, I know to make decisions about my future based on every available resource I have or can make accessible to myself.

Today, I stand confident in my ability to make something hap-pen for myself even if there seems no way. All this because I opened myself up to what was right in front of me, and utilize every single resource at hand. I forgot about the noise of con-vention, and listened to sense residing in it. My biggest piece of advice will always be to keep an eye on the big picture. Whether you are a first generation entrepreneur, a woman with a family, a family businessperson or just an interested party, begin to think about your idea or solution not as a static entity residing outside its natural environment. Think about it in a holistic sense – What am I trying to achieve? What is the best way to learn how to do this? What impact will this have in my immediate world? Have I considered all sources of input for this? What answers do I have today that will al-low me to take my first step? Can I accept failure as a lesson? Do not be bogged down by every little threat that comes your way – yes it’s risky, yes it’s not easy, yes you’ll have to make sacrifices. Tell me something that is worth having that didn’t call for any of that. Keep your mind and heart firmly set on the bigger picture and remember not to make yourself the centre of your own world. Make multiple decisions that will afford you multiple opportunities – to work, learn and thrive.

I’m happy to report that I have walked the talk so far, with ample projects to consult on, a media platform on the way and potentially another study opportunity at the Tata Insti-tute of Social Sciences this year leading to the full-fledged setup of my business. All this because I continue to quench my thirst to ‘know more’ and respect every opportunity I create for myself and really listen to all the ‘teachers’ around me. My eyes are on my big picture – creating positive social impact. If you would ever like to connect, do reach out to me at shrutibharath@gmail.com.

-Shruti Bharath, Early-stage entrepreneur, IDEX Fellow and devel-opmental writer with crossdisciplinary experience in research and development, project and product management, marketing commu-nications and business management. Founder of So Start! an online platform that communicates the value of social responsibility at the individual, collective and corporate level and openly discusses im-pact, strategies and challenges in execution straight from the source. XLRI PGP-CEM 2012, 1st Rank.

13 | verge

PowerPoint can make a boring presentation good look-ing, but it can’t make a boring presentation effective. So

firstly, step away from the computer.

It is important to first go back to the basics and ask yourself some questions. Why is the presentation boring? Are you bored by the subject or topic? If you are, try to find a point or an angle that’s interesting. If you can’t get interested your-self, honestly, you probably shouldn’t be presenting this topic because you won’t be able deliver an interesting presenta-tion to others.

Assuming you can find some aspect of this topic which you, yourself find interesting. Now think about your audience. Who are they? They could be your entire class, a seminar or even an investor looking to find reasons to invest through the pitch. Other questions which needs addressing are what are they interested in? What are they expecting from you and this presentation? What kind of mood will they be in when you present to them? What preconceptions will they have about the topic? Now think about what change you want to bring into their minds by delivering that presentation. Will they be surprised, entertained, reassured, motivated to act? This is your mission statement, and every part of your pre-sentation needs to be measured against how it contributes to that just like the process of planning and then measuring the actual performance with it in an organisation.

Now think about how you’re going to build a narrative to achieve the change you want in your audience. There’s lots of information online about story structure so I won’t repeat it here, but the most common are in three ‘acts’ - beginning, middle, end. Often the beginning sets out some sort of back-ground to the topic, the middle introduces a problem to solve and the end solves it. It isn’t my favourite, but any structure is better than no structure. Another approach to making an effective presentation is to have at least two to three argu-

ments which could be, gradually, concluded with supporting content.

However, storytelling and engaging with your audience is about emotion. If you can introduce a tiny bit of fear that the problem is going to hurt your audience, then relief when you explain the solution, that’s going to stay with them more than just a reading of some dry facts.

It is important to understand that every presentation has two elements – the content and the aesthetics. The content includes all the data (text, diagrams, images, video and audio) while the aesthetics define how the data would appear or look during the presentation. It goes without a saying that the content should be paid attention to at first while the aes-thetics could be worked out later. This is one of the reasons why college professors have text laden slide decks and hardly any images. But the few of them who use images and videos (could be easily sourced from YouTube) manage to make an interesting class and gain a more attentive audience.

How to Power the Point?by Siddhant Bhatia

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I’m also going to share a trick I learnt on a storytelling class for getting people’s attention, which isn’t always appro-priate but I’ve used it in a business setting and it can work well. Start in the action. The example I’ll give you was from storytelling class. The story was about a woman who had something happen to her while she was in a cafe, on holiday in Turkey. Most of us would have started with “well, I was on holiday in Turkey, sitting in a cafe, my friend is just telling me some thing or other when a soldier walks in and...”. All fine, but not very memorable. Her story started with the line “I am sitting in a cafe in Turkey and there is a gun pointing at my head”. Unforgettable. I would bet everyone from that class still remembers the woman and that line. Immediately we all wanted to know why she was in Turkey and why there was a gun pointed at her head and what happened next. If you get someone’s attention, they’ll be a lot more patient while you fill in the (not as exciting) background details than if you start with the details. Try to find the “there is a gun pointing at my head” line in your story, and play around with that as an opener. Even if you decide not to use that approach, it’s a fun exercise and it might help clarify what your key point is.

When you have an idea of the structure you want to use (don’t agonise over it, you can change it later if it isn’t work-ing), now figure out what information you’ll share and, most importantly, what you’ll leave out. Test everything against that mission statement we talked about earlier. If it doesn’t contribute, lose it. And try to create a feeling of suspense - if your audience know all the answers half way through, they could tune out. Keep them curious. Sketch out some ideas on paper (no slides yet), and finally, when you have a good idea of the story you want to tell, you can think about how visuals will help your audience follow you on your journey. And those are the ONLY things you should put on slides. Again, test every slide and every element and word on every slide, against your mission statement. Be ruthless. (You should also include a title slide, which includes enough information that people know they’re in the right room, and the closing slide with information to lead them to whatever they need

to do next, e.g. how to find the web site where your detailed material is located.)

If your story doesn’t need visuals to help tell it, don’t use slides. It’s that simple. If some other method would work better (using props, demonstrating, white-boarding, whatev-er) then do that instead. If part of your presentation requires the audience to focus on you, PowerPoint allows you to press the B button for a black screen (press B again to get it back). Or just insert a blank slide with a black background. Don’t be afraid of a blank screen!

Finally, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse (I said it three times because you should rehearse OUT LOUD to yourself at least three times before you present in front of an audience) Also, if you get a chance, read Resonate by Nancy Duarte. The book is very informative in terms of making and delivering an effective presentation Good luck and I hope you give a great presentation that achieves the change you want in your audience!

-Siddhant Bhatia is a student of the current batch of PGP-CEM at XLRI. He is also a graphics and web guy who helps his father in the family business of mechanised hygiene solutions.

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Yes & No!A business plan as a lengthy 50 page document which lays out a five year plan is still used in many compa-

nies, in many industries, in many countries around the world. There are many practical applications of same, as stated.

In TechnologyIn technology companies such as Web 2.0+, business plans are falling out of favour simply because the pace of business is faster than you can write. By the time most companies or individuals can prepare a well-researched B-plan which con-tains all of the relevant market research including customer interviews, initial partner & distribution details and so forth…well…the market has moved on.

Unknown UnknownsThe premise of a business plan is that the state of the mar-ket is known and can be reasonably predicted. In a start-up, (particularly a tech start-up) this is simply not true. Due to the fast pace of business, most of the five year predictions offered by business plans are entirely theoretical and not likely to survive frequent market disruptions. This is espe-cially true if the business plan itself is attempting to predict the effects of market disruption.

Crystal Balls that WorkThere are some situations where a business plan is entirely appropriate. Slower paced industries such as construction, pharmaceuticals, or aerospace have long iteration times and well established business models which are not likely to change in the near term. This well understood market information leads to greater predictability. Similarly, many businesses which are not attempting to innovate but capi-talize on an existing business models are great candidates for a business plan. This might include restaurants, taking an existing business into a new territory, large companies which have in depth market knowledge and are expanding their product lines, etc.

Market Knowledge = PredictabilityThe business plan may never die, but at this point most peo-ple are simply realizing when it is inappropriate to use them.Or the argument against can be developed as follows:No, I think that the traditional business plan for internet entrepreneurs is not relevant. There is an old military maxim that says, “All plans are great ... until the first shot is fired.” This is not to say that planning is worthless, it’s the thought that entrepreneurs need to create a traditional business plan before they start that is flawed. I agree with General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s summation, “Plans are worthless but the planning is essential”. In a way, planning is essential if you want to know what to do if things don’t go according to plan.

Is the Business Plan Dead?by Anshul Dhir

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There are 6 of many possible reasons why I opine that the traditional business plan is not relevant for entrepreneurs.

Reason #1 - How do you research new? Outmoded business planning talks about getting the market research right before you do anything else. Trouble is, how to you research new? Innovation, the mainstay of the entre-preneur’s actions, is by definition, something that does not currently exist.

Reason # 2 - It’s all going to change anyway The outmoded business plan asks us to sit down and plan out the next 3-5 years and describe in detail the evolving sequence of events. Those of us that have actually launched multiple new ventures know that you are flat out getting the first 3-5 month right, let alone the next 3-5 years.

Reason # 3 - Opportunities won’t wait Make no mistake, it is going to take you about 3-6 months to write a traditional business plan. Now, if your opportunity is prepared to wait around for you to complete that task then good, but more than likely the opportunity you are research-ing has already been exploited by another entrepreneur who understood that ‘timing was everything’.

Reason # 4 - It’s already happening anyway If you are a serious candidate for actually launching a new venture, and not just a dreamer, then in part you already have a business launch in play with your exemplars, your trial offers to in-house customers and in the gathering of your network of contacts that you have identified will get you launched.

Reason # 5- It’s too corrugated and doesn’t represent how entrepreneur’s think There is very little flexibility in a traditional business plan. Too much of the traditional planning approach is twisted towards an existing business going forward and is not well structured for an ‘idea whose time has come’, as it is for the entrepreneurial venture. It is a corporate tool fundamen-tally created under a risk avoidance mind-set where as an entrepreneur’s outlook in the planning process is from a risk management one.

Reason # 6 - What does it prove anyway? Too many new venture focus on creating the perfect busi-ness plan where they should be concentrating on creating the perfect cash flow. As a proof of concept tool, there are far more convincing methods that you could adopt. It is actually very likely that the planning process is actually counter-pro-ductive for the entrepreneur because it can create a certain paralysis from too much analysis. What’s needed, and what most successful entrepreneur’s supply - is action. Execution

makes it happen.

Many new authors are beginning to publish books that better reflect the entrepreneurial mind-set on planning. Tim Burns develops one in his book ‘entrepreneurship.com’, as does the highly respected business planning author, David E. Gumpert, whose latest book is titled ‘Burn Your Business Plan! What Investors Really Want from Entrepreneurs’? Fi-nally, Guy Kawasaki’s book, “The Art of the Start”, talks about just doing it and concentrating only on the planning neces-sary to ‘make it happen’.Well the likes of Bill Gates (Microsoft), Sam Walton (Wal-Mart), Michael Dell (Dell Computers), Larry Page and Sergey Brinand (Google), Steve Jobs and Steven Wozniak (Apple) and Jann Wenner (Rolling Stone magazine) never felt the need to develop one at the start.The business plan is not dead. It remains an effective plan-ning tool for corporations and established businesses but I think that it adds very little to the start-up entrepreneurial endeavour.

-Anshul Dhir is a student of present batch of PGP-CEM at XLRI and is owner of Exuberant Financial services.

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How important was your father’s influence as a motiva-tional force for you in life? Every father has an indelible influence on the life of his

children and obviously my father was no exception. I remem-ber him, in spite of being overweight, to be a fairly sports loving person and that inculcated an interest in sports in all of us as youngsters. He had a very fine sense of humour which always relieved tensions and brought a smile on everyone’s face in spite of difficult situations. Also, I found my father to be a highly com-passionate human being. He had unconditional love not just for his children but for his friends and colleagues, all of which have made him an extremely popular friend, mentor and guide.

What according to you is the success mantra of Ambuja?There is no mantra for success. We tried to do a few things with innovation, with sincerity and with a lot of hard work. Some of these succeeded because of the support we get from our cus-tomers and of course the grace of god.

Do you get any free time for yourself and family? If yes, what do you do then? If no, do you regret it? For you what comes first you family or your business?I do manage to sneak in some hours of free time every week. I try to spend few hours on Sundays with kids. The other free time I get is when I travel either on business or when occasionally we go out for a holiday with the family. I am very fond of watching Hindi movies. I try to watch at least 2 to 3 movies in a month also am extremely fond of reading. So, every time I can get out of work and immerse myself in one of the books, I am thrilled.

Mr. Harshavardhan is the founder of one of the first joint sector companies in India, “Bengal Ambuja Hous-ing Development Limited” in partnership with the gov-ernment of West Bengal. The idea behind this joint sector venture was to promote social housing develop-ment in urban India. Under his guidance, Ambuja Real-ty Group has developed many properties across India. Harshavardhana Neotia’s maiden project, “Udayan” was declared a ‘Model Housing Project’ by the union government. He is also the pioneer of modern Public–private partnership (PPP) housing system in Kolkata.

You are the youngest to receive the Padmashri. What was your feeling at that time?I was overwhelmed when I was conferred the Padma Shri for social housing. You cannot but be overwhelmed. There are lots of people who do wonderful things. There are some who get acknowledged and I was one of those lucky ones.

You are inspired by Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi. What really makes you inspired by them?I have been reading a lot since my college days. For some reason, maybe due to my great grandfather’s influence, I got attracted to reading Indian philosophy and the works of some of our great thinkers. Among them were Viveka-nanda, Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi. I found their works to be inspiring and they have often helped me find a direction when I have been confused with various challenges that I confronted.

Mr. Harshavardhan talks about his jour-ney from managing Ambuja Neotia Group to winning the Padmashri Award with a peek into his personal life and hobbies.

Harshavardhan Neotia

interviewed by Subhashis Dutt

Chairman (Ambuja Neotia Group)

short bio

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What is your view on the increased terrorism in the world which to a large extent has adverse effects on business growth?Terrorism has disrupted life in the most unusual manner for all across the world. Naturally, businesses get adversely and very tragically impacted, not just of direct terrorist at-tack on establishments, but also because of the aftermath that it leaves. It is a worldwide problem and the world lead-ers are all gripped with the situation and I am sure that in times to come, there will be some solution.

Your investments are largely for Bengal and that’s despite the bad politics, Bandhs and strikes called now and then. What makes you adhere to this part of the country and what makes you optimistic about Bengal?First of all, my interest in Bengal was primarily because we lived here and I naturally wanted to work at the place that I was born and brought up and educated in. Having said that, over the years I have found the things gradually improving and I can say that today Bengal has moved a great distance from where we were. Today the government is seized with the importance of business and the need to encourage it. Also, there is a big market, there is a robust global econo-my, fairly developed infrastructure and last but not the least very high quality manpower. All of these augers well for cre-ating a platform for industrial and business development.

What is your next mega-venture? What are your future plans for diversification?We are involved in four verticals – Real Estate, Hospitality, Healthcare and Education and we have plans for each one of these. Most of our activities are centred in West Bengal but we have diversified to Chattisgarh and to Punjab. We are also hoping to set up some tourism venture in Sikkim. We have planned out 4 City Centre type Mall developments, a few hotels, housing complexes, I.T. parks and a tertiary healthcare facility.

What is the scope of real estate in the state with such polit-ical concerns over land and its utilization?The potential for real estate is extremely high because as per the Government of India assessment, there is a housing shortage of 24 million units. However, these are both in ru-ral and urban areas and they really comprise housing units for the people in the low and middle income segments.

Obviously, a lot of housing has to be built to house our people. The question is how to make it affordable and how to deliver it with quality.

Whether is it Swabhumi, the Town Hall building of Kolkata or the City Centre, each project has a unique story to tell! Was it only profit that was a motive behind these projects? What played in your mind?While each one of our projects address a specific need. Obvi-ously, all of them were not commercial ventures. For instance, the restoration of the Town Hall was done by the Homage Trust, a trust we set up and collected funds for the restoration. Swab-humi was set up as a celebration of city’s rich cultural traditions and it was meant to be a kind of self sufficient venture without any significant profit motive. City Centre on the other hand was a commercial mall. However, within City Centre also we tried to experiment by creating a new format to make it more inclusive and to make it more enduring to the citizens by creating the large open spaces, the Kund, removing the boundary wall etc.

The conventional mall theory was that if one created too much of an opportunity for people to hang out, it would create unremunerative foot-falls - those who visit but do not buy...we disagreed. We insisted that Indians generally combineshopping with adda, liesure and outing. The shopper needs to first, be relaxed while shopping. This was the basic of why we evolved City Center from a market into a community center, where shopping would be an en-grossing by-product.

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To be a successful businessman what is your advice to the budding entrepreneurs?

Honesty and hard work are the only things I can advise. There is no shortcut to success. You need patience and perseverance and you need to belief in what you are doing without looking for quick rewards. Also, it helps to be innovative and creative when trying to figure out a new business idea.

How would you like yourself to be remembered in the minds and hearts of people?

My effort is to build a business institution that could provide and support a large number of people, thrill our customers with exceptional products and contribute meaningfully to the society in which we live. These are the efforts we are making and I hope that it will be received by the people accordingly.

What is your message for the students like us who want to be entrepreneurs in future?

India is a great country. Its unity in diversity is unique and pro-vides for a great platform for entrepreneurs and businessmen. I would like to encourage all young students to make India their Karmabhumi. Your efforts will not only grow our country but I am sure you will get immense satisfaction and reward. In the beginning it may seem a trifle difficult because of inadequate infrastructure and all the complicated processes. I am sure that once you are able to negotiate these difficulties, the fulfilment that you will get will be enormous.

Does it make you feel you are a labor-oriented businessman? Why?

I have not quite understood the meaning of labour oriented businessmen.

You are a director of Bhagirathi Neotia Women & Child Care Centre, Kolkata. What is view on the present health infrastructure of India and what would you suggest to improve the situation?

Healthcare has a long way to go in our country. We have not even scratched the surface. Bhagirathi Neotia Wom-en & Child Care Centre has created a niche for itself in the women and child segment and has become extremely pop-ular. We are happy to see the response to our efforts and we look forward to increasing our activities in the healthcare segment.

Do you think India is a growing economy? If you were the Finance Minister of the country what would be your first step?

India has a robust economy and probably is the second fast-est growing in the world. Without a doubt, India will be a leading economy of the world within the next 15 to 20 years. We still have a lot of red tape in various places and we have constraints of infrastructure. These are the areas that we will have to get rid off to enable us to fully realize our po-tential.

Is having pan-India presence the next thing in your mind?

We would certainly like to grow our presence in other parts of the country but I am not in a hurry. Real Estate is a very localized business. You need to understand the market and the local environment and also there are lots of local per-missions that are required to get one real estate project go-ing. We would like to expand but slowly, so that we do not land up overstretching ourselves.

-Subhashis Dutt is a student of the current batch of PGP-CEM at XLRI. He also helps his father in the family business of manufac-turing umbrellas.

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Jet Engine Theory-by Zorawar Singh

I was a freshie in engineering college and I had heard of a jet engine theory, which was to make a lot more sense during exams. The theory was that the rocket lifts only when the

clock runs backward and the nearer it gets to T-0 seconds the greater the flames come out of the engine which lifts it from the ground. Well we were compared to rockets and I hope that we get the rest, as what is the engine and where does the fire ignite (well I know it’s pretty obvious now when you see the title!! ha ha ha ... bad joke). Anyways now whenever the ex-ams were close, our engines used to light up only before some crucial moments and there was a lift off to actually study and prepare just enough to have the escape velocity to cross the gravity barrier of pass marks. Well that’s summing up the en-tire engineering life for you (those who were (un)lucky enough to know will bail me out)

Now I have had a bit of work experience and right now stud-ying where this magazine is being published, makes me look right back on my jet engine theory and realize that what the jet engine which we developed during those years did had far greater implications than what would appear on the surface. Actually, what I do realize is that jet engine theory is actually applicable to more fields and students from different streams as well (but because we are engineers we get a patent right to name it). I also realized that jet engine was not only a practice in engineering but a reality of life. Some people who make an optimum use of it are termed as men\women having fire in their belly. So what happens and what makes them to tran-scend from group having fire in their bummy to fire in their belly.

Well I had an opportunity to work with a gentleman who has grown with the highest pace in retail industry. Shamsher Hura had grown from a retailer with 1 branded outlet to having more than 50 outlets under him in the span of 6 years (out of which he owns 22 of them). He told me once ”you know Zorawar before opening any store I just announce its opening 2 months in advance not really caring how much work should be done. I send invitation cards everywhere because I know

if I don’t, my work won’t be completed even after 4 months from the day the work starts.” Well what he meant was that before doing anything he creates so much (positive) pressure on himself that he has the fire engine working to get the work done. So any guess when does he complete his store? Well sometimes a day before the opening or generally on the day of the opening.

But there is also another parallel theory to this which is that we Indians have a patent on the rocket engine theory. Well we also proved it during the opening ceremony of common wealth games in 2010; well I guess if there would have been some Indians in organizing the Sochi games being held cur-rently Russia wouldn’t have faced such embarrassment. We might be importing all our fighter jets from them but our (natural) propellers are way more superior to theirs. So there can be an argument as to why we Indians are so behind in so many aspects of the world, well I guess if we go by the theory, we haven’t created enough thrust before our deadline of goal achievement, thereby missing deadlines after deadline.

So while what I notice that most of my college mates already are rocket engine trained, I also notice that how good we have become in cutting through huge volume of information. Well some may even curse this on our Indian system of education but I see a brighter side to this. What I see now is that most of us are able to handle pressure better and can bear that last mad dash to the finish line which takes a toll on our body also to complete our work. Tomorrow no doubt a product of Indian education system will handle pressure much better than his contemporaries and will have the potential to do better in his life and carrier on a condition that he gets his goals and the thrust associated with it in place. So I know we would all like to be associated as men/women with fire in their bellies, but we would like to remember one thing is to when to ignite the fire in our bummy.

-Zoravar Singh is a student of the current batch of PGP-CEM at XLRI. He also helps his father in his family business of LPG gas cylinders.

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What’s your Plan? Why do you intend to do after this course? What is the opportunity cost? Almost every first

session would start with this one question fol-lowed by the question how are you going to SCALE-UP? A volley of questions asked in the class facilitating us to reflect on our aspirations.

We have been studying subjects that would help us to understand the logistics, operations, scala-bility and other where about of our ventures but amidst all this we know very little about ourselves. The Companies Act 1956 mentions the business owner and the business are two different entities but in the real world these two entities are one; a businessman is officially and literally work-ing 24x7 to expand the scope of the business.

So, here is the mantra for “Scaling-Up” that I have derived upon the inspira-tion from H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ji.

There is a very thin line between being in rush and being dynamic. We have got several occasion to witness being in hurry. We wake up at 9.25am sud-denly realizing to the hard fact about the class being at 9.30am. At that particular moment we are hardly able to perceive things properly, our haste just blinds us to the thrill and beauty of life. Often we don’t even know why we are in a hurry; it almost has become a biological phenomenon to be in a rush.

Its time we wake ourselves up and become aware of the rush in us. Need of achievement engenders the Rush in us. Dynamism is the natural ex-pression of fulfillment. When we are awake we can’t help but be dynamic.

The entire country is indebted to Guru Gobind Singh Ji for the endeav-or he put to resuscitate the culture to work like warriors. It is the resilient strength of the mind which is need-ed if we wish to realize our dreams. The irony of the current scenario is that we are clogged by a comfort zone attitude. For any venture to scale-up the STRETCH is much needed and so is it for oneself. We need to stretch a little more than we think we can. We need to stretch to inspire peo-ple around us, to impel them a little to make them do what they can do.

Many people do not want to work under someone else, be it in the personal sphere or as an employee in a company. They have a pre conceived notion that when they work under someone, they lose their freedom and have to be accountable. Thus, many people opt to run a business of their own, wanting to be their own boss. In fact, having your own business binds you more than having a boss does!

Many of us crave freedom from the cir-cumstances, situations or people sur-rounding us, but that is not freedom at all. The reality lies in the fact that we are changing our roles every moment;

Being comfortable working under an-yone is sign of strength in an individ-ual. Knowing that nobody can take away your freedom is strength which acts as a catalyst in bringing the best in us and helps us enjoy our work.

Bringing in steadiness in dynamism Realizing

Dreams Experiencing freedom in different roles

Connect to the Inner-Net

&Face the Book Inside!

by Aditi Dadhicch

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We can’t espouse too much consumerism, and be too greedy and de-stroy our planet. There is dearth of entrepreneurs working on the Sustain-able development of the

planet. We need to hone our Awareness on various aspects- envi-ronmental awareness, awareness of human val-ues, and awareness of ethics in our business.

After having given ample of pres-entations our discussions boil down to a question viz, is it feasi-ble or not; is it really worth doing. Any venture to succeed requires the time for reflection; a thorough look into the profits, breakeven points, economies of scale, etc… But can we tap the above men-tioned points when are mind is

agitated or restless? The answer is obvious we can’t; to embrace and to assent the source, all we need is a few minutes of reflect-ing on the truth, on our lives, on our aspirations; Just a few min-utes to ourselves. And what this does for us in return is brings Clarity and awareness, frees in-tellect from inhibitions and frees our memory from the illusions.

We speak volumes with our presence than we could through words. When we are at peace with ourselves we can re-create this peace in the workplace and the work culture will also improve. As entrepreneurs we need to give some thought to how we create an easy and informal atmosphere for others around us at work. We can motivate somebody by giving them hundreds of rupees but such motivation is short-lived. It will only last two or three months and the demand for more money is what is inevitable. Work Culture revolves around either inspiration or emergency deadlines or fear psychosis. A good ethic work culture can conceive

only when the personnel are inspired from within. With the power of breath and meditation, we can cre-ate positivity in the work atmosphere leading towards highly sustainable ventures. Just imagine yourself in a car without brakes, a car with the speed of 120km/h; having no control over the car leading to a lethal conse-quence. Believe it or not that’s the same with the mind too. Our mind is abstract or we can also call it an intan-gible entity where both positive and negative thoughts emanate. A faculty with which we hear and see is the mind. If the mind is conditioned well and is not em-broiled in influences and impressions, it will have opti-mum capacity to envisage clear perception, observation and expression.

-Aditi Dadhicch is a student of the current batch of PGP-CEM at XLRI.

Awareness Time for reflection Having Freedom

at Workplace

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Co-operative movement - A new Visionby C M Singh

A co-operative can be defined as an autonomous as-sociation of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspi-

rations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise.

The United Nations had designated the year 2012 as the In-ternational Year of Co-operatives providing a great opportuni-ty to raise the profile of an important organizational tool for spreading human rights and equality and ensuring the food security to peoples worldwide. Co-operatives, or co-ops, are basically business organizations characterized by democrat-ic ownership and governance. Co-operatives, by their large membership base all over the world, have, by and large, proved their utility and relevance to the socio- economic structure of the society. Membership in co-operative activities has grown to one billion across 96 countries and revenue generated by the world’s 300 largest co-ops is more than US $1.6 trillion.

Co-ops all over the world have been recognized as major fa-cilitators of rural upliftment providing economic opportunities to the poorer and undeveloped sectors of many economies. Some 45% of the branches of financial co-ops are located in rural areas compared to 26% branches of commercial banks. A 2010 Report of World Bank reveals that credit co-ops branch-es account for 23% of bank branches worldwide and serve 870 million people ,thus, making the Co-ops the second largest fi-nancial service network in the world. In developed countries the scenario is somewhat different. Industrialization neces-sarily breeds consumer co-op movement. In industrially de-veloped countries consumer co-ops outnumber others, for

instance 92% co-ops in USA are consumer co-ops, but globally agri. co-ops continue to dominate the scene with about one-third of their share. The co-op movement in India traces its origin to the agricul-ture and allied sectors over a century back and was originally evolved as a mechanism for pooling up the meager resources available whatsoever with a view to provide the rural populace the advantages of economic activities they were deprived of thus far. First attempt to institutionalize co-operatives be-gan with the enactment of the Co-operative Credit Societies Act, 1904 the scope of which was subsequently enlarged by the Co-operative Societies Act, 1912, a more comprehensive statute that could cover activities other than credit. Under the Government of India Act, 1919 and that of 1935 Co-operation became a provincial subject, so different provinces could make their own laws as per their need and requirement. After Inde-pendence it continued to remain as state-subject under en-try-32 of List-2 of 7th Schedule of The Constitution of India. Now all the States have their own laws and co-ops registered prior to these enactments were deemed to have been regis-tered too under them. In order to administer the operation of societies falling under more than one state, the Government of India enacted Multi Unit Co-operative Societies Act, 1942 which was subsequently repealed and replaced by the Multi State Co-operative Societies Act1984 and now the same has again been repealed and replaced by the Act of 2002 with a view to provide a holistic and broader base for co-operatives to develop as a self-reliant, autonomous and democratized institutions.

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Co-operative movement in India has grown and made forays into various economic sectors encompassing a whopping 390 million members. China though big-ger than us has only 200 members in comparison.

Co-operatives can play a significant role in economic devel-opment of the country especially in rural areas where ab-sence of large spending power does not attract private in-vestment to harness local skills and expertise that can uplift local economy and living standards of the people residing there. Co-operatives can also play a definitive and proactive role in controlling the unorganized markets by facilitating the farmers to sell their produce on remunerative prices. Farm-ers co-operatives enable consolidation of fragmented land, investment in mechanization and irrigation, better bargaining power in selling farm produce to traders as also make banks comfortable in providing agricultural credit, thereby improv-

ing the productivity of agriculture and, in turn, improving the income of co-op members. Co-operatives are playing siza-ble role in pisciculture,animal husbandry and dairy, housing and many other economic activities such as fertilizer man-ufacturing and agro-processing, thus, the role of co-opera-tives no longer remained confined to their traditional activi-ties ,but the same has expanded to new economic ventures instead, as has happened in case of such enterprises in the public or private sector. Co-ops are poised to play even a greater role with greater involvement of people in future.

-Mr. C M Singh is well known personality. He has served upon many positions of highest order alike Ex Member Pub-lic Service Commission & Ex MD UP SWC, EX MD UP LDB. Verge is very thankful to him for this endeavor.

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The Indian psyche and family structure demands a reg-ular and secured income after one completes education. This stereotype was proved otherwise by author-entre-preneur Kanth Miriyala who despite having a secured consultancy job, managed to pursue his passion to build his own enterprise, the journey of which inspires mil-lions of youngsters who aspire to enter the job market keeping with the passion for entrepreneurship through his bestseller “Entrepreneur 5 P.M to 9 A.M”. The book is an eye-opener to people who think that employees cannot pursue entrepreneurial ambitions while re-taining their jobs. The book has been highly acclaimed especially coming from an author duo – one who and the other (Reethika Sunder), a working profession-al from IIM Ahmedabad. Kanth did his engineering from IIT Madras and has a PhD from University of Il-linois. He had his first experience in entrepreneurship quite by accident. Having read the book one will under-stand the concept of doing entrepreneurship with job.

How had been your entrepreneurial journey from Quintant to Qik?

I belong to a South Indian, middle class family comprising largely of educators. Therefore, I have been brought up in an academical-ly charged environment. I did my graduation from IIT Madras and completed my masters from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and went on to do my PhD from University of Illinois. I stepped out from the world of academia and joined Anderson Consulting. This is how I was exposed to the functioning of the business world. My wife, too, was very enterprising. We both wanted to start something of our own. Unfortunately, we could not resign our jobs because of visa issues and our inability to invest a lot of money in a business. Therefore, we started working in this direction in the evenings and on the weekends. We began our entrepreneurial journey with network and direct marketing. This gave us an insight into entrepreneurship as against the known face of a 9 to 5 job. We

Kanth Miriyala

interviewed by Harsh Singrodia

Author (Entrepreneur 5 P.M to 9 A.M)

Startup Investor

were risking our spare time rather than money for a po-tentially greater return in the future, while pursuing our passion. This was unlike our jobs that we took up to cre-ate income regardless of our passion. As we were making our transition from the employee mindset to the entre-preneurial outlook, we realized that it is equally risky to stay in employment because one may be shown a red slip as soon as there is some turmoil in the economy.

Later, as I understood that risk is a matter of perception, then I quit my job and started Quintant, a BPO (Busi-ness Process Outsourcing) company in financial services with a couple of my friends. Later, we sold the compa-ny to iGate. Then I became an early stage investor in Qik which was the first mobile, video-streaming company in California. After 4 years, Qik was acquired by Skype.

What was the driving factor for writing this book?

I was an entrepreneur by accident. As experiences of my family venturing into business had turned into big failures, business was considered as a risky affair and was the last thing on my mind. But eventually, as we entered into busi-ness, we realized we could effectively use our discretionary time after our job. This helped me flourish as a part-time entrepreneur, an area largely not covered by the literature on entrepreneurship and startups available in the market.

People generally belong to one of four quadrants: The first quadrant belongs to those who are happy with their job and do not have the motivation to become an en-trepreneur, second quadrant is represented by self-em-ployed people who trade their time for X amount of mon-ey, but there are other people who are business owners and investors who either build assets or invest in them.

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Earlier, I believed that people could not migrate from the employee quadrant to the business-owner quadrant. I esti-mate that around 70 % of the working class people secretly dream of starting their own venture without risking their pay cheque. Unless we experience new things in life we do not get the taste of it much the same way I encourage the em-ployees and students to invest time for entrepreneurship. This is what drove me to write Entrepreneur 5 P.M to 9 A.M.

Throw some light upon your role as an investor and what would be your advice to fund seekers.

Startups require funds depending on the idea. There are two broad sources of raising funds namely the stand-ard sources and the creative source. Standard sources of funds typically comprise of one’s own savings, savings of true angels among kin and friends, professional angels, venture capital, equity and collateral-linked loans. Venture capital, equity and angel network in India is limited but is a growing phenomenon. However, one must keep aside 12 months of savings so that they do not risk their family liv-ing. Also, collateral linked loans are the last resort for start-ing up due to the high risk associated with personal assets.

If one chooses to be creative, one has to ask whether he/she can prove his/her business idea at zero cost. By zero cost, I mean minimal investment. For example, one can create an App by devoting time in the evening and week-ends and can bring it to the market at minimal cost. If you have a great idea, you should be able to convince people. Unless you can do that, you cannot be an entre-preneur. In a situation where you need larger amounts of funds, you may do it eventually by gaining more cred-ibility for raising the money needed for scaling up.

What can motivate graduates from B-schools to opt for entrepreneurship as against high-paying jobs?

While each one of our projects address a specific need. Obvi-ously, all of them were not commercial ventures. For instance, the restoration of the Town Hall was done by the Homage Trust, a trust we set up and collected funds for the restoration. Swab-humi was set up as a celebration of city’s rich cultural traditions and it was meant to be a kind of self sufficient venture without any significant profit motive. City Centre on the other hand was a commercial mall. However, within City Centre also we tried to experiment by creating a new format to make it more inclusive and to make it more enduring to the citizens by creating the large open spaces, the Kund, removing the boundary wall etc.

-Harsh Singrodia is a student of the current batch of PGP-CEM at XLRI.

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Entrepreneurship features two main aspects which is independence and risk. Women in recent times have really contributed to the country’s economy. They cre-

ated enterprises not only for themselves but took care of thousands of people. It is because of them, India as a coun-try is able to leave its impact in the world of business. Wom-en can understand better the complete, full-process envi-ronment of what success means for any business. Women can easily and effectively run any complex functions of the organisation. Women depend on a holistic indulgent and detail-oriented capacity to mix the different information in-puts along with other operational outputs. Also it is found that when you place a woman in charge of those procedures in any organization, they can perform in a complete and ef-fective way because of an intrinsic consideration to various levels of details that women try to bring to the table.

According to a study it is found that women chase their goals and ambition in their life only after they’ve satisfied the wants and requirements of their family, which includes caring for children and ageing parents. It also found that women undervalue their capabilities (while their male col-leagues overemphasize them) and are therefore less prob-able to chase supercilious career goals. The study also shows the following points:

1. Approximately 1.8 percent of women entrepreneur busi-nesses in the U.S. have income more than $1 million per year, conferring to the SBA.

2. Many a times it is found that women lag behind men counterparts for the willingness to get bank financing sup-port for their businesses.

3. Women are less probable to get venture capital. Very less number of women gets financing support for their ventures.

Whether or not you purchase any of this--and undoubtedly there are constantly exceptions--the fact rests that female tycoons are less likely to take the big risks to acquire the big rewards.Women entrepreneurs are less business oriented. They

have to pay attention to different things. They have to see their families, parents etc. Therefore they cannot give their full attention in business. Small businesses are too much taxing to run as compared to larger ones. And as financing a business is difficult for a women entrepreneur they cannot stand up the business in the market. They cannot sustain in the market for a long period of time.

Incremental risk is equal to exponential rewards. All busi-nesses owners contract with risk. Women are not in the po-sition to accept the risks associated in the business. A small amount of force on that risk can permit the businessman to make a major influence in your competitive position and in-come, by permitting the businessman to meet the expense of a star hire, a product improvement or a new storefront. A more successful business means more choices or options for the proprietor.

There is also some women entrepreneurship that has de-termination for their careers and for life. They usually have a difficult time going through the end game and having a clear path to get there in the middle of various other re-sponsibilities. Counsellors with lives we want to imitate can be few and far amongst.

It becomes too different for women to handle their profes-sional life and their personal life. They have to handle many different responsibilities and therefore they cannot handle and concentrate on one particular work alone. The stories of women who have built successful businesses, taken in-tended risks to get there, and not sacrificed a satisfying life need to be told. They are out there.They say that when they stop looking at ambition and dan-ger as an enemy of life balance and see it in its place as a way to accomplish it, then maybe they will be ready to start thinking big.There is lot of risk involved in women entrepreneurship. If they are not concentrated on the work alone any wrong de-cision can be taken which can hamper the entire business.

-Gouri Agarwal is a student of the current batch of PGP-CEM at XLRI.

The Risks in WomenEntrepreneurship

by Gouri Agarwal

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Some of the top Women Entrepreneurs of India who took up the challenges and risks in their business career.

Naina Lal KidwaiGroup General Manager andCountry Head (HSBC)

Chitra Ramkrishna National Stock Exchange Chief

Chandana KocharMD & CEO (ICICI Bank)

Indra NooyiPresident and CFO (PepsiCo)

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Information & Communication Technology (ICT) has be-come an integral part of any scientific development and research endeavor. The main purpose of scientific and

technological inventions is to better the life of mankind. This also holds true when we speak for the upliftment of the 500 million underprivileged Indians lacking a mini-mum level of education. In order to promote quality based education among the extremely deprived sections of the society that has a cascading effect on social development, innovative systems need to be designed and implemented. Digital Literacy Mission (DLM) establishes such a pio-neering system for offering free education to disadvan-taged sections by creating a community based learning network of students, tutors and facilitators. It follows a 1-3-9-2 DLM network model for self propagation and scaling up. The model states that one DLM facilitator (1F)

creates three DLM tutors (3T) who teach nine DLM stu-dents (9S) and the facilitator in turn motivates another two facilitators. This novel community learning network idea is based on the “FRACTAL” pattern found in “Nuclear Fission” and many other self-propagating systems of nature.

DLM has come a long way in the quest of eradicating the scourge of illiteracy from the society. T his mission has been successful in creating innumerable Community Class Rooms (CCR) established and run by educated women tu-tors, and facilitators. They ensure that students entrusted in their care attend school regularly, do not drop out and can cope up with their school curriculum. A number of NGOs have come forward as facilitating organizations and have also successfully implemented this unique concept.

Digital¬Literacy¬Mission:¬Fractals¬in¬Social¬Engineering

Dr. (Ms.) Mita TarafderMs. Debarati Chattoraj

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Individual donors who support the DLM centers by establish-ing contact with students, tutors and facilitators through virtual communication. The ultimate beneficiaries of this fast spreading network are disadvantaged students who other-wise would have been neglected, growing despondent and becoming a burden to our society. Under the constant care & able guidance of community tutors, students have been encouraged to continue education and become productive future citizens.

Women as community tutors receive financial supports from local NGO’s, which has become a newly found form of free-dom, financial independence and empowerment for them. Since its inception in 2011, DLM has effectively brought about an inclusive transformation in our constantly evolv-ing society, by tapping the latent talents of women that lies majorly unutilized within the community itself. Individuals belonging to diverse fields, have willingly assist-ed in creating community class rooms. Adequate attention is also given to the overall development of DLM students by providing them with opportunities to learn extra - curricular

activities such as yoga, dance, music, drama, etc. in the “Sun-day Activity Classes”.DLM has achieved success in creating awareness about pro-moting education by presenting the program called “Dance for Education” where students convey messages through dance, music and drama. In addition to regular coaching, counseling and computer and extra-curricular education, emphasis is given to skill based training, initiating small ven-tures, demonstration and promotion of grass roots innova-tions through this network of 20 centers in Jharkhand, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. The site address of DLM is: http://dlmindia.org.in/.

- Dr. Mita Tarafder is a Senior Principal Scientist, CSIR-NML, Jam-shedpur-831007 and Graduate of PGP-CEM 2012 of EDC, XLRI Jamshedpur

- Ms Debarati Chattoraj is a Creative Writer and Home Maker, Agrico, Jamshedpur-831009

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Over the years of teaching entrepreneurship and being an entrepreneur as well as mentor to some, I have come across some queries which stumped me and

some which are just out of this world! I have put down a few with my bits on the same. The identities of the individuals have been hidden on request. I am getting stretched at my venture....need more hands....am short on funds....thinking of taking my wife on board....(yes who else will work for free!)ONLY hire for the right reasons. Competence is reason no 1. A bored wife at home is better than an underperforming em-ployee you can’t sack! Best way to demotivate your good guys too. I have a few properties lying idle. Thinking of starting some franchisee to use the property and also keep busy.Don’t! You will create a bigger problem trying to solve a small-er problem. Nothing against franchisee business per se but again the core reason should be the business and not you’re idle property and your boredom. Rent out the property and take up a job. If you were the entrepreneur type....your prop-erty wouldn’t be lying around unutilized. I have a small business where we do good work with very good employees who are like my family. However I lose them regularly to competition and bigger corporate. What do I do?Love does not always pay for our lunch. Loyalty will not be hostage to emotions for too long. You can do zilch at your size.

Grow if you want to retain the best. Pay also comes into the equation but with growth comes paying power too. I lost my job in the recession. I don’t see opportunities in my town and I can’t move out too. Can I become an entrepreneur?Entrepreneurship is not the last resort of the losers. It pos-sibly is a game which requires a lot of intelligence, grit and persistence. If you had that in you, you wouldn’t be sitting idle for sure. You have already lost the job....why do you want to lose your savings too? I have done a course on entrepreneurship. I have the ideas but don’t have the money. What do I do?Money chases good ideas....it’s a matter of time and a bit of active networking. It will happen. Be at it. I am raring to start my venture. However my family wants me to wait a bit as they are looking for a suitable groom. What should I do?Don’t wait. My wife/girlfriend wants me to invest in the venture of her brother. I am not sure what to do now.Invest if the funds are idle and you don’t mind losing it too. Usually either you will retain either the money or the relation-ship. It’s your choice.

Prof. Prakash Nahata

CA, CS, ICWA, Founder of AnthroplaceVisiting Faculty -XLRI

The Infrequently Asked Questions?

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I started a venture and put some funds in it. Now I have come across an even hotter idea and am at my wits end what to do...Have you not heard of serial entrepreneurs?

I like my business but I don’t like my partner....what should I do?Which doctor has asked you to like your partner? If he/she is adding value to the business and not doing anything unethi-cal, change your likings or just live with it. Don’t whine.

I want to introduce a new partner in the business but my ex-isting partner does not want that. What to do?Don’t introduce if you can’t convince your partners.

I had the brains. My partner had the money. Our venture rocked. Now my partner wants to use his brains. What to do?It’s better to lose less money now on his hair brained ideas than to lose all the money later coz he can’t stop himself from meddling. If he has invested his money and you didn’t clearly spell out your roles and responsibilities in the beginning, it’s important that he be allowed to use his brains and lose a bit of his money. At that time, you lay down the clearly defined roles and it will be rocking all over again!

I love my job...but I also deeply desire to become an entrepre-neur.....what to do?It’s like saying I love my wife but I also really like this other fe-male. Talk to someone who maintains two wives. He will give you the right answer to this question. If you ask me....I would say CHOOSE.

Should I work for some time and get experience and then start my venture? The pro is it will make you better at running a venture.....the con is you may become a victim of circumstances and not be able to risk financial instability after some years and the ven-ture may never happen. The risk appetite reduces with age in most individuals. You may yet decide to walk the tightrope and try and have best of both worlds.

I have a family business and am the only offspring of my par-ents. I love my dad’s money but not his business. What to do?Your dad worked hard to earn his money and surely he won’t like to hand over his business to a reluctant owner. Some-times liking a business is like liking whiskey....you only devel-op the taste for it over time and then you REALLY enjoy it.... :) For some reason if you want to be the teetotaler, there are always mock tails available...world is full of business ideas....Have you ever heard of a reluctant entrepreneur who was massively successful? Get the drift?

I am in a decent job with decent pay. My wife comes from a business family and wants me to become an entrepreneur. What to do?These wife situations are very tricky! Damned if you do and damned if you don’t. My friend, take the plunge but ONLY if her family is bankrolling your venture...who knows maybe it’s your wife only who would request you to go back to service after some time:)

I am in love with my business partner....will it hurt our busi-ness in the long term...what to do?There is no correlation in these variables. Carry on my friend!

-Mr Nahata holds a degree in Commerce from St Xavier’s College, an MBA from Jadavpur University. He is a quali�ed Chartered Ac-countant as well as a Company Secretary and a Cost Accountant. He provides lectures on various business related topics not only in XLRI, Jamshedpur but in other B-Schools in and outside India. Prior to founding Anthroplace Consulting, which was then called A4 Con-sulting, he was heading the �nance and strategy of the A4 group. He started his career with a Merchant Banking �rm for a year before beginning his 3-year articleship. He joined the Vivada Group which has interests in the Shipping and Chemical industries as Manager (Finance & Legal). He has years of experience in Corporate Training and Business Consulting. He is also into Education for CA and MBA students.

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A few years ago I had quit my job as Team Lead-Business Development at a start-up software company and de-cided to get into the business of Real Estate Consultan-

cy. At that time I was confident that my business would be a great success as I had experience in Business Development, but I soon realized business on the field is very different from conducting business online. On the field, you need to network with people to generate leads and negotiate with them to successfully close deals.

Ever heard the proverb “Don’t dig the well when you’re thirsty”, well what that means is, don’t start networking when you need help (well not literally but it applies in this context). Net-working is about making connections and building enduring, mutually beneficial relationships & this takes time & effort.

The next time you meet any senior executive or a success-ful professional or businessman, ask them, ‘What single skill or habit would you attribute your success to” and a majority would reply that it was ‘Networking’. Networking is CRITICAL! I cannot emphasize this enough. Take my situation for exam-ple. There are numerous buyers and sellers who are looking to sell, lease or purchase a property and there are numerous more brokers looking to land these clients, so who would you let handle the single most significant transaction of your life? Well, normally I would have to compete with these brokers but herein a personal relationship with the clients or their as-sociates enables my organization to stand out, rise above the noise and remain on top of the mind.So here are my top tips on how to network effectively:-

Attend industry events and meetings whenever you can, if you wish to enhance your industry knowledge, advance or ex-plore your career in real estate, then you cannot afford to miss these events.

Do your research & schedule meetings before you attend the event. Identify contacts & prospects that you would like to meet but couldn’t necessarily travel to meet due to con-straints (geography, time or otherwise) and arrange to setup a 15 minutes meeting prior to the event, those 15 minutes could change your life!Another benefit of prior research is that you can make an actual or mental list of everyone you would like to meet and

then periodically review the progress you have made, this en-sures the most effective use of the event.

Finally learn all you can, network during leisure activities fol-low up with calls, emails or letters and add these new con-tacts to your personal database immediately. More and more real estate leaders are proven to be individuals that possess a broader knowledge of the industry and are well rounded multi-faceted professional.

So, Networking is how you acquire clients, but what do you do for these clients once you acquire them, can you successfully negotiate to close the deal? Your ability to close, singlehand-edly depends on your ability to negotiate. Negotiation is a life skill. When we “negotiate” with someone, we are actually try-ing to influence or persuade them to agree with or do some-thing, it is the art of persuasion, but is it really as easy as it sounds? No…it’s not! This persuasion tactic is also used and most exploited by buyers and sellers in real estate by their willingness to walk away from the deal. To counter this tac-tic the agent needs to do his due diligence and has to know as much as possible about the opposite party. What are the motivations of the buyer and seller? What you need to under-stand is that when it comes to the purchase or sale of a prop-erty it is not simply about the money, it also involves emotion. Agents may use these emotional triggers to garner a better deal for their clients.

To counter the aforementioned tactic agents sometimes re-sort to withholding offers for too long before presenting it to the clients, the reasons for doing this may range from not be-ing able to approach the client with such a low offer to trying to put pressure on the other party by not responding to their offer, well…it’s a risk either way, but it is proven that biggest killer of deals is time. The longer the clients have time to think things over, the worse it gets, anything can happen in the in-terim period and it is most likely that the client changes their minds.

In the end the factors I know that make good negotiators are patience, awareness, flexibility and the ability to attentively listen to their clients’ needs. --Souharda Mukherjee is a student of current batch of PGP-CEM at XLRI.

Have you wondered, “Why is it that you are not able to acquire clients and close them?” Here are my tips on effective networking and negotiating, how it helps, specifically in real estate

How to Close a Deal� e signi� cance of Networking & Negotiation in Real Estateby Souharda Mukherjee

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As I strolled dragging the bags on wheels, exchanging glances with few; and the contagious fake courteous smile with the rest, all I wished, hoped and yes prayed;

assuming that bhagwanji is also as jobless as me, that life spools back itself five years and those treasured days are back.

Days when time dint matter, friends were the relatives I had by choice and not because by the biological linking and the speakers of my consciousness blared on repeat:-

‘Life sahi hai, tension nahi hai,sutte ka kohra hai, daaru bahi hai….”

Once all the customaries and the official formalities were over I was given the possession of my den, a den that was appar-ently alien to me. I was exhausted and the paramount thing on my mind was to take a nap and then explore the jungle figuring who are the other animals who shall fight tooth and nail to survive this hostile environment I had ended up in on my journey to learn the skills of being an entrepreneur. This journey commenced on one assumption – Unlike my dad I believed in shortcuts and guessed this was the opportunity and jumped to grab it; oblivious of where it might lead me to. It was the first time when I realized ki there are places far more backward than Kolkata, far deprived of civilization, basic amenities and most importantly girls. Till this day I was un-der the notion that gender inequality is just a myth, gender ratio’s were like concocted balance sheets and profit and loss accounts of Satyam; however this place opened my eyes to the grim reality that women were like the Yahi tribe who were inching towards extinction. The definition of beauty was like effectual reasoning (evolving with time), it was more dynamic than ever and so was the concept that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, it gave me an understanding that the dearth of beauty and the presence of no close substitutes results in the demand being inelastic. In fact, the only fairer-sexed company I’ve been graced with in the air, happened to be miles away.Days were again smaller, the biological cycle and the food cycle had tuned itself as per the demands of the hostel and thriv-ing on liquid diet was cardinal with Maggie being the staple diet. The most dreaded weapons i.e. assignments, homework, quizzes and projects were launched. Among all these weap-ons the most dreaded were the PLP’s (People lying personally).

Animals from different part of the world were a part of this 6 months congregation and everybody had brought with them their share of attack, their share of experience, their share of zeal, their share of intelligence and their share of fun. There were few who were like nomads stuck in a compound and few for whom fun was a relative new term and party was like stepping into oblivion. Then there was few for who tension was like fuel is for car. Tension was like oxygen for them, the only irony was that the day they were not tensed, it got the others tensed!!!Few, who believed in focussing on their lives and their man-tra was ignorance is bliss and hence were categorised as diplomats but unfortunately their opinions were of crucial importance for the rest of the world. There were few who believed in solitary. These were the secluded. This solitary set had further subsets. Few who remained silent all the time and few who believed that they were of the most su-perior form of homo-sapiens and talking with others would be something their ego might not be able to take care .They were so secure that it made them insecure at times.

Some believed in life is a game (literally!!) and irrespective of the adversities they were able to find an opportunity to play what-ever and whenever. They lived to play and the rest of the world just revolves around the game and the game continues forever.Days were slipping by faster than one could imagine, it was like sand, the harder you try to hold the faster its slips. Six months just flew by and it was like just yesterday when ev-eryone was celebrating the fresher’s party and it was time to bid farewell and wish good-bye. All I wondered was:-

‘I guess it’s going to have to hurt,I guess I am going to have to cry

And let go of some thingsI’ve loved to get to the other side

I guess it’s going to break me downLike falling when you try to fly

Sad but sometimesmoving on with the rest of your life

starts with goodbye’

-Kushal Pachisia is a student of current batch of PGP-CEM at XLRI.

Memoriaspor

siempreby Kushal Pachisia

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India is on the verge of becoming one of the fast-growing economies, driven by many factors including multinational entrepreneurialism, buoyant local stock markets, robust economy-changing demographics and the overall emergence of India on the global stage. With great demand for housing for India’s huge population and for commercial and industrial premises for its booming economy, large-scale real estate projects were launched across the whole country. This trans-formed the real estate business into one of the most lucra-tive sectors in the country. A sector which attracted venture capital, and diversified sources of funding including overseas, and private domestic funds and private equity funds. To cre-ate an environment friendly to foreign investors, foreign di-rect investment to up to 100 per cent was allowed in 2005 in townships, built-up housing and construction development projects with the liberalisation of FDI regulations. The inflow of funding catalysed the organised development. However, in 2008, the global meltdown in real estate produced a corre-sponding downturn in the Indian real estate sector.

Needless to say, the real estate sector plays a significant role in the Indian economy: it is second only to agriculture in terms of employment generation and substantially contrib-utes to the gross domestic product of the country. Almost 5 per cent of GDP is contributed by the housing sector, and in the next few years it is expected to rise to 6 per cent. More-over, the construction sector has also been responsible for the development of over 250 ancillary industries such as cement, steel, paints, brick, timber, building materials, etc. A study by a credit rating agency ICRA shows that the con-struction industry ranks third among the 14 major sectors in terms of direct, indirect and induced effects in all sectors of the Indian economy. A unit increase in expenditure in the real estate sector can generate a fivefold increase in income.With the downturn in the economy, and being a capital-in-tensive industry, the real estate sector started to face a liquidity crunch emanating largely from banks’ cautious approach to financing the real estate companies. This approach was reflected in lower loan-to-property value, construction-linked payment and financing only for projects nearing completion. Further, real estate developers also had to cope with other sources of funding, such as private equity and stock markets, drying up considerably; receivables from residential projects under construction getting blocked; fall-ing demand and buyers deferring payments until they took possession of properties. The resultant fall in valuation in the past few months coupled with high interest rates and low availability of money had put real estate developers on the

defensive and kept homebuyers away.

The true test of the professionalism in the real estate sector has to be seen now. In the past a seller’s market existed, in which it was only necessary to market products or think about what kind of products to make. But now the market has perceptibly shifted towards the buyer and products must be designed to respond to market requirements. Because the demand in the affordable housing segment is encouraging, real estate developers now need to concentrate on profits through high-volume, low margin deals instead of high-mar-gin and high-quality transactions. This will mean designing affordable housing options suited to average Indian families whose disposable income is steadily on the rise.

In the residential segment, the first quarter of 2009 wit-nessed the launch of residential projects with some price rationalisation. However, the price corrections are more pronounced in new launches than existing projects, which are mostly sold to end-users or investors, and whose costs are covered. Further, the correction in prices, cuts in bank in-terest rates and smaller unit sizes per apartment - owing to a shift from luxury to low-cost housing - has led to increased affordability for homebuyers. The current scenario has also opened up new locations for residential development, which were otherwise not very attractive to homebuyers. Far-flung suburban locations, where land is relatively inexpensive, have witnessed the launch of aggressively priced projects in the recent past. With a huge latent demand for housing units in India, the residential sector is a strong driver to lead the recovery in the real estate market in terms of sales volume and asset pricing.

Real Estate : An overview in Indian contextby Tapas Mallick

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As far as the commercial segment is concerned, with a substantial surplus of office space, demand for rentals has declined overall. This has been compounded by subdued absorption levels and a decline in pre-lease activities across the country. Rents are expected to correct in varying degrees, creating considerable opportunities for occupiers and inves-tors. The market is expected to improve some time in late 2010 based on a better global capital spending environment and stabilisation in other sectors of the economy. Certain reports estimate that the IT and ITES sector alone will require 150 million ft2 of office space across urban India by 2010.

While the government has taken various steps to develop the whole industry, there is a further need to streamline government policies and introduce reforms to boost the real estate sector. Industry experts are advocating a further substantial cut in interest rates and greater ease in credit financing. The government has already announced two stim-ulus packages, in December 2008 and January 2009, which included cuts in key lending rates and classification of loans up to US$41,670 (approximately) per house, per family, as priority-sector lending. These stimulus packages were crucial steps in the right direction and the momentum needs to be maintained by the recently elected new government.

The long awaited Real Estate Management (Regulation and Control) Bill, is expected to establish a regulatory agency and streamline the real estate sector by introducing various re-

forms. The new government is also expected to address the longstanding issues of grant of industry status, tax-breaks and exemptions, streamlining and increased harmonisation of registration and stamp duty rates across the country, liberalisation of the economy to allow foreign investment, allowing REIT and REMF structures to channel investment into real estate and permitting even small investors to participate in property development. These measures will go a long way to building up overall confidence and creating an environment conducive for a substantial increase in foreign investment into the real estate sector.

At present, the ideal course should include the restructuring of loans and increasing demand by reducing prices, offering customer-friendly financial structures, rebuilding foreign investors’ confidence, introduction of innovative real es-tate products and widespread policy measures by the new government to strengthen the real estate sector in India. The revamped sector would definitely experience a boom again and it is envisaged that the value of the real estate sector in India would grow to over US$100 billion in the next 10 years with improved stock of housing loans and mortgage pene-tration, reduction of risks for venture capitalists and private equity firms and rationalisation of the real estate regime.

Tapas Mallick is a student of present batch of PGP-CEM at EDC XLRI with over 15 years of experience in real estate industry.

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Aparna Banerjee is an entrepreneur from Kolkata, West Bengal. She brought about a revolution wherein she developed a social business model involving hundreds

of entrepreneurs in rural areas of India. She has brought forth a changed economic scenario that has led to 7200 en-trepreneurs who supply to her organization Project Sukanya which distributes these hand-made products to the consum-ers in urban centres through carts and outlets branded as BOU.

Banerjee, in my opinion, has been a light of hope of the rural artisans, sculptors and craftsmen. She believes in nurturing the skills in rural India and has successfully established a forward linkage to the markets in urban areas in India and abroad. Her will to build this business model was so powerful that a letter sent in the capacity of an ordinary citizen of the country was noted by the Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister. She was invited to explain her plan to the Prime Minister at his residence in Delhi where she was assured of all assistance from the Government. She strongly, however, believes in self-reliance and refuses to associate her organ-isation with any political ideology. Her dream is to build a network of entrepreneurs and create a successful scale-up for market linkages so as to create a self-sustaining society.

When did you decide that you want to be an entrepreneur?When we are in Class 10, we generally have our mindsets as to what we want to do in life. I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. During my higher secondary education, my family underwent a lot of financial distress but doing a job wouldn’t give me enough money or leave me with time to pursue education. My family wanted me to be a civil servant. However, I chose to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to be a part of the business community that influences the society.

What was your first entrepreneurial venture?I started off making transformers. I saw an opportunity in it. I applied to a government scheme for women entrepreneurs where I received a loan of Rs. 2 lakh without collateral. As soon as I became 18, I received the amount. Entrepreneur-ship, I felt, was embedded in me. (The turnover rose from Rs. 18,000 to Rs. 1,80,00,000 in an year)

The market situation was such that Excise duty on copper had increased and the factory producing a steel raw mate-rial for transformers had closed down. Hence, I found the bottleneck and i firmly believe if there is no bottleneck, there is no opportunity. Thus, I saw opportunity in getting imports of raw materials from Ukraine via the Bombay Port, which proved cheaper. I transferred the difference in costs to the buyer, thus, gained more orders beating all competition par-ticularly when the raw materials resources were scarce.

Did your family support you?Since I was a good student, my parents expected me focus on studies only. However, both my parents were extremely supportive. My mother gave me space within the house for making my workshop. I used to work alongside the labourers in the workshop. I used to actually get down working on the machines to ensure that they are working well. My father later found cheaper alternative to the expensive machine that was in operation, which reduced a lot of the capital expenditure.

Tête-à-tête with Aparna Banerjee

interviewed by Subhashis Dutt

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Tell us about your education?I graduated from Presidency College in Political Science after which I went on the study Law. I believe an entrepreneur must know law. Thereafter, I did my management studies at XLRI Jamshedpur. It was then I decided that I need to close down the transformer business, at a time when there was a good demand. By then, I had enough financial resource. It was during my studies that I strengthen my idea of Proj-ect Sukanya driven by the spirit of Social Entrepreneurship. Later, I also pursued a programme in Human Rights from University of Calcutta.

How did you approach the Prime Minister with your project?I had submitted my project through a letter to Prime Minister Singh. And yes, no references. I was called up 2 months later. It was an inspiring meeting.

How did management studies at XLRI help you?It was a valuable experience. During the phase of education, it was a hard training – pressures and frustrations, but by the time I left, I was a changed individual. I had a repository of knowledge in business.It is better that you have undergone management education before you start off such that you have insights in business. I do not believe that an entrepreneur should become an en-trepreneur and not go in for jobs after an MBA for the sake of work experience. It will dilute your knowledge. No success in life comes without failures. If you go through the failures in the early stages you will learn better to reduce such failures in the future. So, it is essential for young entrepreneurs to

take up the challenge.Why do most entrepreneurs fail?It is mostly because they fail to mistake-proof their systems. I drew this from the concept of the leaking barrel where even a small hole in the barrel empties it of all the wine. Similar-ly, if entrepreneurs do not reduce the chances of mistakes occurring due to system gaps, it leads to failures sometimes beyond the capacity of the entrepreneur to recover.

What is your message to young entrepreneurs like us?Be brave, be bold – live your dream and have the passion to achieve it. I learnt the plight of these women entrepreneurs who have such wonderful artistic skills unable to reach the market with their products. Having a social inclination, enlightens these people, makes them grow as an entrepre-neur. I realised I need to do my bit to initiate the change. That’s what an entrepreneur does – she initiates change and lives her dream. Be yourself and find opportunities in those bottlenecks.

-Subhashis Dutt is a student of the current batch of PGP-CEM at XLRI. He also helps his father in the family business of manufactur-ing umbrellas.

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He always believes self-confidence leads to determina-tion and determination leads to conviction, which is precursor to success. He with no resources once and

striving hard to take care of his family (from the age of 14) now shouldering responsibility of more than 150 households, with a vision of taking care of 10000 families by 2020. Koshish (his firm) itself suggests, the only capital of its organization is its people and their endeavor to get success. His firm Koshish came into existence in the year 2000 and since then has been focusing on the empowerment of the underprivileged and deprived human beings by providing them a dignified, ever growing, sustainable source of income. Not a man, but a transformer can pump confidence to even a death body is the hall mark of purity and dependability. He is not mere a serial entrepreneur but an institution with himself having credit of nourishing more than 1000 youths who are presently earning their bread in sales profession. He is having his presence from various religion to culture, from heritage to literature, busi-ness to livelihood, education to entertainment and in almost all segment. He is always positive, enthusiastic and possesses ever learning attitude. He never bog down to any ill motivated

people and encash any undue advantage. He is a man of prin-ciple and iron determinate to deliver his objective whatsoever. Koshish is engaged in manufacturing and marketing house-hold chemicals and herbal products, is running a cooperative (Yet to be registered) doing tours and travel business and run-ning an NGO (Aasara ek kiran) since 2004 and will be launch-ing a 6 weeks entrepreneurship program to stop migration of youth from his motherland Bihar under the able guidance ship of Bihar Agriculture university, Sabour Bhagalpur. Sub-odh Bhowmick, having experience to work with TISS, will head the training program. Presently, Koshish is testing his for-tune in real estate too by joining joining hands with Bidisha Entreprises. To pursue his entrepreneurship skills he took voluntary retirement from his high paying job with Pfizer Inc. He was associated with Pfizer with since last 17 years. His confidence lies in the capacity of his team members. His aim to cross 100 crore turnover can be achieved through the men-torship of Dipankar Majumdar (Eminent name in training field), Arindam Bardhan (Famous chemist in eastern India), Mrs Mad-humita Dutta (The jewel of koshish) and Mr. Bishwajeet Ghosh (The true emblem of Koshish) will guide the values of Koshish.

d e b a j y o t i m u k h e r j e e

entrepreneurial STORIES

Verge has never felt so lucky interviewing budding entre-preneurs from such diversified background. It has been a learning journey for verge too to have conversation

with a man who has common name but different fame, as he once quoted. Deepak Jha is learned to be a son of proud parents who made it to India’s pool of talent of highest order, ISRO. Without much ado here is his story in his own words. After joining ISRO (Indian space research organization), I nev-er ever thought to leave this organization before retirement. I exactly remember the date 3rd march 2013 (The great JRD Tata’s birthday), I was coming from SHAR trip (Sriharikota) after successful completion of GSLV MK3 vehicle integration and assembly unit. The night at Chennai airport brought me among you guys (XLRI-EDC). I don’t know how many read-ers of this article will believe me what is share with you. I was reading the famous “I have a dream” and same night my brother, who was studying in Germany, called and in-form that he got a job there. It came as news to celebrate but turned into a dilemma as he supplemented that his probability of coming back to India is very less. Suddenly, I thought about my parents who were staying at Jamshed-pur. My younger brother was the only hope for them, be-

cause from a middle class family to grab a job as scientist of that stature is a major achievement. They never want-ed me to come back and supported my service to nation. In the journey from Trivandrum airport to ISRO housing colony, I took a life changing decision that I have to be with my par-ents (who have devoted their lives to us) & take care of them.One major challenge was still there to convince my wife and her parents. It took three months to make my point. My tentative business plan was ready at the day of my resig-nation (07th June, 2013) before the interview result of XLRI PGPCEM. Finally I launched the venture “15th June 2013 by name of DK MATHS FORUM. The response was very good without making much use of advertisement strategy and marketing skills. It was indeed a winning moment giving much confidence. I always have had the passion of teach-ing and wanted to experiment with teaching methodology.This day my parents are happy about me and my brother who’s making big at Germany. I can live with the fact today that i am doing what i always desired of and i am pursuing my pas-sion. “ISRO ko to koi mil hi gaya hoga. There’s always some-one better than someone.” Every day in EDC is a learning day.

d e e p a k k u m a r j h a

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retold by students of PGP-CEM 2013-14 of XLRI

“Veracity reposes in the words of Aristotle “All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion,

desire”, the driving force is ‘Passion’ that makes me pull up my socks and run for the ribbon”, he quotes. At age of 18 af-ter passing high school, while pursuing graduation, broke the cocoon, meeting new people and exploring entrepreneur-ial skills, by trading mobile phones and sim cards, as it was very new & emerging market at time. The pennies earned were no less than a fortune to imbibe confidence in a naïve business boy. The college, studies and family doesn’t like the idea very much. It ended up but along with studies he start-ed working in a BPO company nearby college. An executive then team lead and making it to middle management in same firm in span of year and a half. Life flipped when he cleared a central government service examination & got appointed as assistant in Department of posts. He says “I still remember the feeling I had on first day of my joining, it seemed like I was given a slow poison.” Though cleared several banking of-ficer exams but never joined as he explains “there seem no fun in running same race over and over again”. He has been an RTI activist and as member of executive board repre-sented various society members and business associations among different political parties and industrial chambers.While at department of posts, Ministry of communications and IT (India), have had certain opportunities of serving among workaholics and highbrows, at diversified levels; operational level and assisting the administrative framework in day to day events. He has served head offices at Ludhiana, few sub offic-es and administrative office during span of approx. six years.

He also served as branch manager, supervising savings, operations and at zonal administrative office where-in worked at numerous branches viz. Customer Rela-tions, Insurance, Business Development Cell, Inspection, Fraud and misc. Among his colleagues he was known as a young candidate leading and representing postal union of own division at national, regional and zonal level.

As a firm believer in quote “only the change is constant” de-cided to pursue life on own terms and resigned from prom-ising career for nowhere. As victim of his stubborn nature, again started enterprising in real estate sector, as father is already into same, decided to expand same business. After completion of few ventures, due to temporary slum in mar-ket and some boredom started exploring new areas, conse-quently got into stock and commodity broking, financial ser-vices, being a finance major, it was one of interest areas. He set up his new firm by name of Exuberant financial services,

at Ludhiana Stock exchange, the business hub of Punjab. Initially making own part of mistakes and incurring losses in stock broking, devised & adopted a different strategy and got into exploiting remote areas where people know nothing much about financial markets, started educating customers the basic financial matters and procuring business success-fully. The strategy made firm expand its horizon to cover whole north India now. Financial results with social impact of imparting financial literacy makes him more humble. While also managing constructions, consultancy business in real estate, things are controlled and moving at consistent pace.As Albert Einstein quotes “Intellectual growth should com-mence at birth and cease only at death andlaw of nature suggests to headway”. He always has believed in growth and learning, so with a purpose of investing into himself, decided to get formal education in India’s top most colleges, which is why he is presently honing entrepreneurial skills at EDC XLRI Jam-shedpur. As concluding remarks he shares his thoughts as “An Entrepreneur should always keep in mind the golden words once uttered by a wise man “Start by doing what is necessary then what is possible and you will start doing impossible”. Perseverance, Observation & Execution are building blocks of any business. Calculate risks but don’t fear it, the world is in-deed not going to end tomorrow, one can always start afresh”. Here are few points, pertinent to men-tion, taken note of during this conversation.

Major tasks & Problems faced:

As Trader:Meagre capital, Financial constraints, Lack of market knowl-edge, Lack of experience, No social standing, Lack of family support, Lack of dedication being a part timer, Social stigma.

As Professional:Lack of interest, Low decision making, inefficiency due to un-defined roles, Lack of flexibility and excessive hierarchical au-thority, Conventional methods of working, Internal politics, Low morale, Inefficient performance appraisal system, Absence of reward system, Limited growth due to reservation, Nepotism.

As Entrepreneur:Multi-tasking, right manpower, Identification of right mar-kets, Market and product research, Partnering and collab-oration, Excessive bureaucracy, Capital procurement, Com-petition, Devising marketing strategies, Deciding location, Diversification, Social stigma, Client sustenance and manage-ment, Time management, Office setup, Family expectations.

a n s h u l d h i r

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Most of us today would consider it as a blessing to being born in industrial family having a history of successful businesses behind them. Although

there are very few who would realize the responsibility that it brings with itself. Same being the case with me, being born in an industrial family and soon after graduating there was a constant debate in my mind as to what my future course of life is going to be. Having got an offer from Leeds University UK for further studies in International business made the decision even more difficult. However after go-ing back home and seeing the state of affairs at the fam-ily run business, I had a sense of compellation which made me realize that there can be no better time for me to prove my worth and take up the challenges. There was a sudden burst of ideas which made sure that I could be the change.

As the saying goes to change the system you have to be in the system, but for me I had to make a system of my own to prove myself. Working at the business for a year and achiev-ing very little, I realized that habits take a lot of time to change and to bring change you have to have a sizable contribu-tion in building the business which I dint. There was always this thought that since I have not contributed in making the business what it is, then why interfere, and people who have started it must know better. This lack of contribution in the business faded my zeal to bring change, rather than made me bring changes within myself. However the problems came along with solutions and I found myself staring at the path of entrepreneurship. It was not only the zeal to bring change but also a long followed dream of making a world class institution.

p i y u s h a g a r w a l

Hailing from a business family based in Faridabad, a dy-namic Siddhant’s journey has been one with ups and downs. Due to initial realization of his passion towards

drums and composing music along with an inclination towards making a career in that field, he was unable to understand the needs of his family busines and lacked devotion. Constant con-flicts occupied his mind where a priority, either towards busi-ness or music, was unable to be derived. This also involved be-ing argumentative with family members, an aberration which was involuntary and was an outcome of interest conflicts. With time came a strong realization that pursuing music could be extremely challenging and be deprived of much financial gains. This realisation was also devoid due to his elder broth-er already taking care of most of the major responsibilities of the business. Along with this came focus, which was lost till now. The business was then embraced and a positive outlook towards it was developed as a whole. As tasks and branding responsibilities were taken up, things started falling in place.

He is passionate and creative to be modest. With a degree in Business Administration, he has been helping his father in the family business and has been doing extremely well. With the control of branding for two multi crore major brands under Nutech Group, one dealing in mechanised cleaning solutions to B2B segment and the other involving automobile detailing

services, Siddhant has performed with proper planning and sufficient skills to make sure both the brands achieve a reput-ed name in the market. Also, with skills equipped in Graphics and Web, he is an all-round asset to the company. Siddhant has executed various graphic and web projects for companies to earn some quick money to satisfy an outgoing lifestyle. Graphic formats included designing brochures, catalogs, lo-gos, and print ads. He has a knack for self-teaching various computer software’s such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, After Effects and Corel Draw. He also learnt web designing and made various websites for group brands and other reputed firms. He holds knowledge of designing a start-up e-commerce website singlehandedly, which he will be launching under Nutech. Named CleanBazaar, this brand will provide e-commerce solutions to buyers of cleaning prod-ucts in B2B and B2C segments. This model will also include a marketplace to allow sellers to market products through the portal. He is also working on a Social online Portal which would provide connect and branch out budding entrepre-neurs with each other to share a common pool of knowledge. Equipped with a multi-talent persona, he is often found working at Nutech during the days and playing with his bands as a proficient drummer or a DJ in the evenings.

s i d d h a n t b h a t i a

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Abhilasha Jaju Deepti Todi

Richa Khurana

Zorawar Singh

Shruti Bharath

People here, very different and dis-tant they seemed at first, but the difference was just a few minutes of conversation. EDC has been a very overwhelming experience for me. The things I learnt here, be it related to academics or life in ‘gen’ have changed my perspective on a lot of things (For the greater good, I suppose). I will cherish these mem-ories lifelong!

A decision well taken, an experience of a life time and a time wisely spent. This is what outlines the 6 months spent studying the Entrepreneurship course at XLRI. Amazing perspective from the fellow batch mates, sheer excitement and knowledge well en-graved in our minds forever. A fant-abulous mixture of great minds and best professors. The experience is to be cherished and the opportunity shouldn’t be missed. All the best!!!

It seems like just yesterday that I walked into a class full of new faces and today all of a sudden the jour-ney is over. I met a whole bunch of diverse people through this batch. The fond memories of our class is still so fresh in my mind: ,opening up of a tiffin box full of homemade food, the fun filled parties in ‘Wild Gamharia’, the Industrial visit to Metalsa Plant will be cherished. College might be over but the mem-ories will remain; the fun might be over but the craziness will remain. EDC, you will be missed.

6 month of peer learning was what it was in a nutshell. Books and pro-fessors lived up to their name but the greater learning experience was from the batch mates. Sometimes you stop and wonder how does your horizon of seeing things expand once if you take a break from your usual work and try to learn and un-learn few things. Well this is what EDC did to me; it broadened my view of business, life and people in gen-eral. Thanks fellow entrepreneurs (for everything) you will be remem-bered!!!

If you are looking for fresh and fast-paced insights into the convergent realm of business management andentrepreneurship, XLRI’s PGP-CEM is the place to begin. Under the lead-ership of Prof. Prabal K Sen, theprogram is a one-size-fits-all intro-duction to that exciting world of en-trepreneurship!

testimonials

by

pgpcem

students

Salubrity & Pabulum healthcare a healthcare product man-ufacturing company was thus born on February 2010.The start was focused on building a world class sustainable institution serving the people of Odisha with high quality Healthcare products. Company started operations by mar-keting its 2 core products Glucose and Oral Rehydration salts throughout the state. The learning for the company was steep and fast, we committed our own mistakes and learned the hard way. Markets made us realize that there is only the sur-vival of the fittest. Since then it has been a constant endeavor of the company to bring efficiencies at all levels of working and be a leader in packaging and manufacturing technologies. The results have been humbling us in more than one way, in the recent past as we have been able to successfully launch various other products such as tonics and nutritional supple-

ments, company has grown over 100% since the last year. In the process the most important learning to be shared is the importance of a good team. The entire success has to be at-tributed to the team that works with a shared commitment of delivering world class products to each of its customers. In the three years of my entrepreneurial journey the mea-ger knowledge that I have gained is to stay foolish. This is the simplest way one can learn from others and try to be humble. Only if you are foolish you can learn else the whole world is more intelligent than you. Similarly never let anyone question your integrity, because long term business relations are only built with people of integrity. Lastly go by the GUT feeling even if it is wrong you will feel good that you have at least taken your call and the learning will last for a life time.

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Gallery

(Sitting L to R) Vineet Arora, Sanjay K. SIngh, Somrwita Guha, Abhilasha Jaju, Aditi, Dadhicch, Prof. Prabal K. Sen, Neewedita, Richa Khurana, Gouri Agarwal, Ankita Naredi(Standing L to R 1st Row) Rajiv Kumar, Saheel Sinha, Dhir Panchamiya, Charchika Singh, Shrinkhla, Abhishek, Kanchan Mangotia, Deepti Todi, Satish Kumar, Gaurav Agarwal, Kushal Pachisia, Piyush Agarwal, Tara Kishor.(Standing L to R Last Row) Anmol Hembrom, Vivek Sharma, Abhijeet Verma, Alok Tiwari, Siddhesh Sawjiany, Kartik Agarwal, Debajyoti, Raj, Prakash, Garuav Kumar, Jeetendra, Sidhhant Jain, Vishnu Gupta, Gitesh Singhal, Anshul Dhir, Souharda, Harsh, Rishabh Agarwal, Subhashis Dutt, Avishek, Siddhant Bhatia, G. Subramanian, Deepak Jha, Arpan Dixit, Neelesh, Adil, Tapas Mallick, Chandan, Bhavya, Avishek, Chandrajeet, Swaminathan, Ankur Singh Cheema, Clarance T., Deepak Singh, Zorawar SinghPhoto Courtesy: Mayank Baid

Fr E. Abraham, Director, XLRI, Fr Tony Uvari, Dean (Admin), Fr EA Augustine, Director, XITE, Prof. Pranabesh Ray, Dean (Acad) and Prof. Prabal K. Sen, Chairperson, EDC are seen on the occasion of the lighting of the ceremonial lamp to inaugurate the 4th round of the Post Graduate pro-gramme for Certificate in Entrepreneurship Management (PGP-CEM) on September 17, 2013

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Students of PGP-CEM 2013-14 participating in the “Joy of Giving 2013” are seen with Prof. Madhukar Shukla, Chairperson, FACES

Some of the Student Volunteers from PGP-CEM 2013-14 with EDC Chairperson at the site of Jamshedpur Carnival on January 19, 2014 organized jointly by Tata Steel, JUSCO and XLRI (EDC)

At the inauguration of the Kite Festival, which formed a significant part of Jam-shedpur Carnival 2014-organized jointly by Tata Steel, JUSCO and XLRI (EDC)- are seen, among others, Mr TV Narendran, MD, Tata Steel, Mrs Narendran, Ashish Sharma (a graduate of PGP-CEM 2012) & Principal Coordinator of the Festival and Mr Mehul Pathak, Guinea’s Book of Re-cords holder besides Prof. Prabal K. Sen, Chairperson, EDC on January 19, 2014

The Girl Students of PGP-CEM 2013-14 Some of the Students of PGP-CEM 2013-14 at the new EDC Campus

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Entrepreneurship Development Centre

verge EDC (XLRI) Magazine

PGP-CEM 2013-14

Team Verge is thankful to all the students, professors, entrepreneurs and family business members in various fields of entrepreneurship for sharing their stories, contributing ar-ticles and for extending financial support to make this magazine see the light of the day. We specially remember the contributions and the critical support extended by Prof. Prabal K. Sen, Mr. Tapas Mallick, Mr. Vivek Sharma, Mr. Debajyoti Mukherjee, Mr. Piyush Agarwal, Mr. Harsh Singrodia, Mr. Anshul Dhir, Mr. Siddhant Bhatia, Ms. Deepti Todi, Mr. Gitesh Sin-ghal and all batchmates of PGP-CEM 2013-14.