Bharat Entrepreneurs

LARRY ELLISON:The FOUNDER and CEO of ORACLE CORPORATION

2008-10-16T03:08:37Z

Lawrence Joseph “Larry” Ellison is the co-founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation, an American software company established in the year 1977. Larry Ellison was born in the year 1944, Bronx New York City. He pursued his studies in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he was named the science student of the year. A testimony for his strong aptitude for maths and science.He finished his final term in University of Chicago due to family problems. By the time he was 20 he moved to northern California. Here Ellison drifted from job to job for 8 years, working as a technician for Fireman’s Fund and Wells Fargo bank. Also as a programmer at Ampex, he contributed in building the first IBM-compatible mainframe system.

Origin of Oracle:
In the year 1977, Ellison and two of his Ampex colleagues, Robert Miner and Ed Oates, started their own company, Software Development Laboratories(SDL). Later in 1979, it was renamed Relational Software Inc and finally it was renamed Oracle. Prior to this Ellison was inspired by the paper written by Edgar F.(”Ted”) Codd on relational database systems named “A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks. Ellison and his partners won a two-year contract to construct a relational database management system (RDBMS) for the CIA with project’s code name: ORACLE. Starting with eight employees and with revenue less than $1 million, Oracle proved to be successful and became a million dollar company hired by IBM for its mainframe systems.

First Loss:
In 1986 Oracle went public, raising millions of dollars with its initial public offering. But in 1990, Oracle laid off about 400 employees because of a mismatch between cash and revenues and this resulted in 80 percent drop in Oracle’s market capitalization which pushed Oracle to the edge of bankruptcy. After adopting several new strategies he used his own ideas into product development. In 1992 he launched a new version of the database program Oracle 7, which became a big hit in the database management software. This ensured that it regained its previous status.Oracle made 76% net profits in a single quarter in 2000, and spent more than $25 billion in acquisitions starting from 2004 and acquired PeopleSoft for $10.3billion. Finally in 2007 they acquired business intelligence software provider Hyperion Solutions.

Other shades of Larry Ellison:
Ellison is the second largest financier of BMW Oracle Racing. He is now pursuing ownership of a potential future NFL franchise in Los Angeles.

Achievements and Accolades:

Mr. Ellison received Entrepreneur of the Year from the Harvard School of Business.
In 2006, Forbes ranked Ellison as the richest Californian.
In 2008, Ellison is listed on Forbes list of billionaires as the #14 richest person in the
world.

Shiv Nadar : The Unassuming Entrepreneur

2008-10-15T00:42:22Z

Shiv Nadar is an Indian entrepreneur, IT executive, educationalist, bridge player, one of India’s richest people and the Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of HCL Technologies. Shiv Nadar founded HCL in the mid-1970s and transformed the IT hardware company into an IT Enterprise over the next three decades by constantly reinventing his company’s focus. In 2008, Nadar was awarded Padma Bhushan for his efforts in IT industry. Nadar, nicknamed by friends as Magnus (Persian for Wizard), since mid-1990s has focused his efforts in developing the educational system of India through SSN Trust

Early life

Shiv Nadar hails from Moolaipozhi village in Tuticorin District^{[citation needed]} and was born in the Nadar community to Sivasubramaniya Nadar and his wife in 1946. Shiv Nadar received his engineering degree from PSG College of Technology in 1968 and started his career in DCM’s calculator division.

HCL - 3 decades of evolution

First decade - Startup to India’s No 1 IT company

Along with Ajay Choudhry (Chairman, HCL Infosystems), Arjun Malhotra (CEO and Chairman, Headstrong), Subhash Arora, Yogesh Vaidya and DS Puri^[4]^[5], Shiv Nadar started Microcomp to sell teledigital calculators in the Indian market^[6] under the brand name “Televista.^[7]

HCL was founded later in 1976 with an investment of Rs 187,000^[8] from the 6 founders and added Uttar Pradesh government as a 26% equity partner.^[9] While the company focused on building a microcomputer from scratch, it received an unexpected boon when foreign companies like IBM left the country due to the policies adopted by the then Industrial minister George Fernandes in 1977 creating a market space for the microcomputer in India.

In 1980, HCL ventured into the international market with the opening of Far East Computers in Singapore to sell IT hardware. The venture reported Rs 1 million revenue in the first year and continued to address the Singapore operations. In 1981, Rajendra Pawar, Vijay Thadani, S Rajendran started NIIT with Nadar playing the role of investor to address the then fast growing computer education market. Nadar remained the largest shareholder without reatining any management control. Nadar retained his shareholding in NIIT through 2003 at least.

Through 1984, the company focused on designing microcomputers and writing custom applications for clients on these systems. When the Indian government liberalized regulations for import of technology, the computer market was in effect opened for adopting new global technologies. HCL utilized the opportunity to develop Personal computers solutions (called Busybee) and UNIX platform based solutions. In the IT hardware business, the company opened a subsidiary called HCL office Automation that quickly became India’s leader in office solutions. By 1987, HCL recorded revenue of Rs 100 crores and featured as India’s number 1 company

Second decade - Transition to software services business

Shiv Nadar looked at marking a place in the global arena after having captured Indian IT leadership. HCL America was setup in 1989. However the move backfired as Shiv Nadar and HCL miscalculated the requirements of the market and the venture didn’t succeed in the world’s largest market. However in India, HCL consolidated it’s market position in the early part of its second decade reaching an inflexion point in 1991 when the government liberalized the economy to provide a level playing field for foreign players. HCL joined HP and created a JV - HCL HP Limited. The JV built solutions to address the local computing market as well as gave HCL it’s first experience in outsourced R&D. In the mid 90s, Shiv Nadar added sale agreement with Ericsson and Nokia to distribute their products in India. In 1995, Nadar set a target of Rs 100 billion as target for the HCL Group, a target his group will fall short.^[11]

By 1995, HCL became a complex organization with over 40 subsidiaries and Nadar quickly realized that global IT services was the way forward rather than IT hardware. HCL Consulting was formed to address the IT services and the R&D division of HCL-HP was merged into HCL Consulting.^[11] The company was renamed HCL Technologies in 1996, the same year the JV with HP broke off.

By early 1998, Nadar had consolidated his business into 5 entities - HCL Technologies (global IT service company), HCL Infosystems (Indian IT hardware leader), HCL comnet (network services company), HCL Perot (IT applications) and NIIT (education services).

Third decade - Global IT service company

Shiv Nadar took HCL Technologies public in 1999,^[11] At the time of IPO, HCL was the second largest IT company with revenue of Rs. 7.23 billion behind TCS (Rs 16.52 billion) but ahead of Wipro (Rs 6.32 billion) and Infosys (Rs. 5 billion) and with the Internet boom in full swing, HCL decided to put complete focus in R&D services to product engineering companies while paying scant attention to the Y2K. When the Internet bubble burst in 2000, HCL was left behind by its competitors because of their headstart in Enterprise application services.

Nadar made an effort to bootstrap HCL with acquisitions in 2001. HCL acquired Apollo Contact center from BT and Deutsche Software Limited (Deutsche Bank’s Indian captive software company) to address the BPO and Financial services market. Still HCL continued to underperform competitors through 2005.

By 2004, the number of companies in HCL was consolidated from five to two - HCL Technologies and HCL Infosystems. Shiv’s shareholding in NIIT was recognized as personal investment and HCL Comnet became a subsidiary of HCL Technologies. HCL Perot was sold back to partner Perot Systems for $105 million in December 2003.^[12]. S Raman, COO & President, HCL Technologies retired in early 2005 and Nadar promoted Vineet Nayar as President of HCL Technologies and revive HCL’s sagging fortunes in the IT services spectrum.

In 2007, Shiv passed the mantle of CEO of HCL Technologies to Vineet Nayar. Shiv remains Chairman of HCL Technologies and it’s largest shareholder.

Non-IT business ventures

Nadar had less success with his ventures outside the IT and software industry. His partnernship with Singapore Telecom to address the now-booming Indian Telecom market was unsuccessful as well as his attempts in the granite and aquaculture business.^[3]

Focus on Education & Healthcare

In 1996, Shiv Nadar founded SSN College of Engineering in Chennai, Tamil Nadu in the name of his father - Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar. Shiv Nadar takes active role in the college activities including gifting of 1 million HCL shares to the college. In 2006, Nadar announced that the college will promote research apart from ensuring that students benefit from foreign university tie-ups.^[14] Nadar joined the Executive Board of Indian School of Business in 2005.^[15]In March 2008, Nadar’s SSN Trust announced setting up of Seven Vidyagyan schools in UP for rural students where free scholarship will be provided for 100 students from 10 districts of Uttar Pradesh.

Shiv Nadar is a member of the Governing board of Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI). PHFI was started by Rajat Gupta to “redress the limited institutional capacity in India for strengthening training, research and policy development in the area of Public Health”

Awards and accolades

In 2008, Government of India awarded Shiv Nadar with Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award for his contribution to IT industry.^[18]

In 2007, Madras University awarded him honorary doctorate degree (D Sc) for his contributions in promoting software technology.^[19] Nadar was also recognized as E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 (Services).

In October 2006, Shiv Nadar received an honorary fellowship from AIMA

Ferdinando “Nani” Beccalli-Falco:President and CEO of GE International

2008-10-10T01:35:14Z

Ferdinando “Nani” Beccalli-Falco, a native of Italy is the President and CEO of GE International. Beccalli-Falco pursued his master’s degree in chemical engineering from the ‘Politecnico di Torino’(Polytechnic of Torino) in Italy and after that he completed graduate work in Business Administration at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. He became the key factor in organizing GE’s strategies efficiently outside the U.S especially in South East Asia. Nani Beccali was also appointed as the Genpact Board of Directors.

The Journey of Ferdinando “Nani” Beccalli-Falco:

In the year 1975 Mr. Beccalli-Falco started his career in GE in United States.
In the year 1977 he joined GE Plastics Europe, in the Strategic Planning group at the company’s headquarters which is located in Bergen op Zoom, The Netherlands.
Later In 1981, he moved to GE Plastics global headquartersin Pittsfield, where he held several management positions in the Specialty Plastics, NORYL® resin, LEXAN® resin and Marketing divisions.
In 1987, he returned to Bergen op Zoom as the Director of Marketing.
In the year 1990, he served as Managing Director of the Structured Products Business.
From the year 1993 to 1996 he acted as the president of GE Plastics Japan Ltd and later in 1997 he moved to GE Plastics Americas as vice-president and general manager.
He continued in that position upto May 2001 as he joined GE Capital Services in that year and finally in the year 2005 he became President and CEO of GE International.
Currently Ferdinando “Nani” Beccalli-Falco is playing a vital role in company’s success being responsible for GE Capital’s Equipment Management Businesses, Fleet Services, Rail Services, TIP/Modular Space and Penske Truck Leasing.

Warren Buffet - Think about it

2008-10-11T23:49:50Z

Warren Buffet - Think about it

There was a one hour interview on CNBC with *Warren Buffet*, the second
richest man who has donated $31 billion to charity Here are some very
interesting aspects of his life:

1. He bought his first share ! at age 11 and he now regrets that he started
too late!

2. He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.

3. He still lives in the same small 3-bedroom house in mid-town Omaha, that
he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything
he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence.

4. He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security
people around him.

5. He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world’s largest
private jet company.

6. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one
letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the
year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis. He has given
his CEO’s only two rules. Rule number 1: do not lose any of your share holder’s
money. Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1.

7. He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he
gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch Television.

8. Bill Gates, the world’s richest man met him for the first time only 5
years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren
Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates
met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of
Warren Buffet.

9. Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his
desk.

His advice to young people : “Stay away from credit cards and invest in
yourself and Remember:
A. Money doesn’t create man but it is the man who created money.
B. Live your life as simple as you are.
c. Don’t go on brand name.
d. Don’t waste your money on unnecessary things; just spend on them who
really in need rather.

Omar S. Ishrak : President and CEO of GE Healthcare’s Clinical Systems division

2008-10-05T05:33:15Z

Omar S. Ishrak, president and CEO of GE Healthcare’s ClinicalSystems division had 13 years of experience in technology and business management when he joined GE. Mr. Ishrak earned a bachelor of science and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of London, King’s College.

Journey of SYED OMAR ISHRAK :

Prior to joining GE Omar S. Ishrak served as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Marketing and Product Development, for the $200 million Elbit Ultrasound Group and served at various product development and in transducer and systems engineering positions at Philips Ultrasound.
In the year 1995, Omar was appointed as the General Manager of Global Ultrasound at GE Medical Systems.
Later in the year 1999, he was promoted to Vice President.
After that in January 2005 he was appointed president and CEO of GE Healthcare’s Clinical Systems division being responsible for GE’s ultrasound, monitoring solutions, bone densitometry, cardiology, maternal-infant care and life support solutions businesses as mentioned in the GE official website.
Currently Omar is a member of the Blood Center of Wisconsin and a leading member of the organization’s research committee and Health Leadership Council of the Save the Children Foundation.

JEFF IMMELT :Chair Man and CEO of GE

2008-10-05T05:37:05Z

“GE” .This is the DREAM LAND for an aspiring professional with a background in Electrical Engineering. It is a 130 year old company whose CEO is Jeff Immelt (ninth chairman of GE). His actual name is Jeffrey Robert Immelt born in 1956 in Cincinnati at Ohio. He is the acting Chairman of the Board and CEO of GE(General Electronic a US based conglomerate) who has been named one of the “World’s Best CEOs” three times by Barron’s. He holds a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from Dart Mouth College and later he pursued his M.B.A from Harvard Business School in the year 1982.

Journey of Jeff Immelt:

In the year 1982 he entered GE and donned many leading roles such as in GE’s Plastics, Appliance, and Medical businesses which is now known as GE Medical Healthcare.
Later in the year 1997 he joined the GE Capital Board.
In 2000 he was selected by GE’s Board of Directors as Chairman and CEO.
In June 2004 he received an honorary Doctor of Laws from Dartmouth College from which he gained his B.A.
Later in between 2006 and 2008 he received five honorary doctorates from five colleges namely Northeastern University, Pepperdine University, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Notre Dame and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Currently he is also on the board of the New York Federal Reserve Bank.

1800-GOT-JUNK? How Brian Scudamore made it big

2008-10-04T07:38:52Z

The fundamental axiom for success in any business endeavor is the mantra, ” Find a need and Fill it!”. This was exactly what Brian Scudamore did. In countries like Canada and the United States where labor is hard to find, it becomes cumbersome to remove all the junk that gets accumulated in the house over a span of years. And this is where Brian Scudamore stepped in. He wanted to make money removing JUNK!

In 1989, while Brian was a student in the University of British Columbia in Canada, he started with just one truck the junk hauling business named the Rubbish Boys. He started this as a means to pay his way through the college. Half way through the college, he decided to call it quits and focus soley on his junk hauling business. His father who was a liver transplant surgeon wasn’t particularly impressed with Brian’s career choice. But Brian trusted his guts and that proved to be correct.

After continuing this way for the next few years, Brian wanted to grow his business through out cities in Canada and also throughout the United States. The solution to him seemed to start a franchise and so he started franchising his business. In 1998 the company’s operating name was changed to 1800-GOT-JUNK? This easy to remember brandable name soon generated profits for his company.

In fact, 1800-GOT-JUNK? is one of the fastest growing franchises and it was also named the best employer in Canada. Brian was featured in Oprah Winfrey Show and is currently a well respected entrepreneur in the media as well as the business community. He frequently tours and lectures to students of business school giving advice on how to run a successful business.

Scudamore was named entrepreneur of year by IFA International Franchise Association 2008. At present there are well over 200 franchises throughout the US and Canada.

SUCCESSFUL JOINT VENTURES IN INDIA IN 2008

2008-09-26T05:36:11Z

Joint Venture between Nilpeter and Proteck Machine :

By introducing the latest auxiliaries like rotary screen, cold foil and hot foil stamping which increases supporting capacity, Nilpeter is entering a joint venture with its sales and service partner Proteck Machinery. Currently Proteck offers sales and technical support services for Nilpeter in India. Nilpeter is a strongly established firm in US and Danish manufacturing units. Their objective is to manufacture flexo servo presses in India which resembles the Nilpeter FB-line machine’s design.The joint venture manufacturing announcement follows the first Indian installation of a Nilpeter FB3300 Servo press at Adjanta Packaging Daman Plant.

Joint Venture between Vornado and Reliance Industries Limited :

Vornado and Reliance Industries will commit up to $250 million each to the venture inorder to penetrate deeper into the retail shopping market in key cities in India. Paramus based Vornado Realty Trust has got lot of confidence in Reliance marketing strategy as currently Reliance operates over 700 retail stores in multiple formats in India.

Joint Venture between Virgin Group and Tata Tele Services :

Virgin has partnered with Tata Telecom services in India keeping its rates for out going calls in line with those of competitors.The new mobile operator is the “first nation-wide youth focused mobile service” and the “first CDMA service where all customers will be on RUIM (SIM)-based phones.”.

Joint Venture between Tyson Foods and Godrej Agrovet :

Tyson Foods, Inc in an effort in the direction of extending their company’s international presence has purchased 51% ownership of Godrej Foods, Ltd., based in Mumbai. This joint venture between Godrej Agrovet and Tyson will be called Godrej Tyson Foods.Their objective is to expand the capacity of the poultry plants which are already in operation.

Joint Venture between Marks & Spencer and Reliance Retail of India :

In a view of establishing the British food to clothes retailer as a major retailer brand, above mentioned firms have entered a joint venture and formed M&S Reliance India. Each partner would initially invest up to 29 million pounds in this Venture.

Joint Venture between Malvern Instruments and Aimil in India:

Malvern Instruments which is a leading materials characterization company and Aimil which is Malvern’s long-term distribution partner in India have entered a joint venture that resulted in the establishment of Malvern Aimil Instruments which started its operation on May 1, 2008. Malvern Instruments provides a wide range of complementary materials characterization tools that deliver inter-related measurements reflecting the complexities of particulates and disperse systems, nanomaterials and macromolecules.

Joint Venture between Volvo and India’s Eicher :

AB Volvo, Swedish truck maker has invested about $312 million which resulted in a joint venture with Indian Vehicle manufacturer Eicher Motors named VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd.This venture involves entire truck and bus operations of both Volvo and Eicher.For the first fiscal year ended March 31, they have earned a profit of $22.9 million .

Joint Venture between Germany’s ERGO Insurance Group and India’s HERO Group :

These both firms have come together to form a joint venture which is an Indian life insurance company named HERO ERGO Life Insurance Company Ltd. ERGO International AG will take a 26% share in HERO ERGO Life Insurance Company Ltd, which is the maximum permissible limit under the existing guidelines for the insurance sector in India.

What is your Business Model?

2008-09-21T03:26:45Z

I recently came across an article / blog which explained the best possible practice to model your business. I was astonished to see their statistics on the current business world. Studies have shown that even some of the bigger companies in the world have executives at their top most position with no clear understanding of their business model. Not to mention many of the start ups never thought of a plan or business model before getting into. You would have constantly heard the stat that 9 out of 10 start up fails. But what as an entrepreneur I dislike, is that no one tells why 90% of them failed and how to fix that.

Think about it for a second, if those CEX and CIxes don’t know what their goals are, how are they possibly going to achieve it. Not to mention that even if they can explain the business model that they are in, not 2 of them show the same picture. So in fact they are reaching 2 different goals or if they have common goals by chance, they have different priorities.

This brings us to the question - How can your start up have a proper business model from day one? Or better yet if you are starting up or have a small to mid size business with multiple stakeholders / partners, how can you see the business through the same lens? How can all the members of your team (Partners, Employees and External stake holder) work in tandem to achieve the same goal, prioritize the same task and achieve success faster and with ease.

As the saying goes “If you can’t measure, you can’t manage” and “Fail to plan is a plan to fail”, it is imperative for anyone in the business to Plan, strategise, execute and succeed. I will let all your entrepreneurs to kindle your thought proces and to chart out your Business model. If you have a partnership firm or an initiative, this exercise will really show the areas of improvement.

I will let the genius inside you to work on it and catch up in my next post where I will walk you through one of the Business Modeling practice that I found interesting. In fact I am starting up a business for which I am doing the same - I walk the talk.

Check my blog about unsecured consolidation loans and debt consolidation

Opportunity in Oman for Entrepreneurs

2008-09-16T23:44:57Z

Oman, also known officially as the Sultanate of Oman, is an Arab country in south west asia on the south east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Interestingly, it borders the U.A.E on the northwest, Saudi Arabia on the west and Yemen in the south west. It has a coast which is formed by the Arabian sea on the south and east and the Gulf of Oman on the northeast.

During a business meet organized by the Kerala Chamber of Commerce, the Chairman of the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that Oman provided a lot of opportunities for foreign investments. There were certain strategic investments in which the ownership could go to 100 % !

Another attractive feature is that not only does the corporate tax not exceed 12% but also that there is no tax for the first five years! Oman has a free trade agreement with the U.S. that helps the country to undertake export activities to the U.S. without customs duty. There is a free trade zone in Salalah and Sohar industrial area, which means that there are also a lot of facilities to the investors.

Oman, being a member of the Great Arab Trade Zone, also facilitates export of locally manufactured products to 18 Arab countries without custom duty. Because it is a member in the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation, there are a lot of openings for entrepreneurs in widening markets.

Tourism constitutes less than one per cent of the GDP of Oman at present. This is the most potential area of opportunity in Oman where entrepreneurs are invited to start resorts and hotels.

Given so much potential for the opportunities in Oman, it remains to be seen who will capitalize on this market.

Taiwan’s Entrepreneurs see opportunity in India

2008-09-16T22:57:11Z

In the year 2006, the bilateral trade between India and Taiwan stood at $2.71 and now, Taiwan is looking to expand its operations in India. The Tamil Nadu Government is looking to setup a 200-acre Special Economic Zone to attract investments from Taiwanese firms touted to be at a tune of a whopping 500 million dollars.

Inorder to expedite the whole process of setting up a business, a single window mehanism was introduced. This will simplify the clearances required. Another significant step in the right direction is the setting up of a direct flight between Chennai and Taipei. There are already several Taiwanese firms operating in Chennai and the 500 million dollar investment is the mere beginning of what the bright future of investment in Tamil Nadu beckons.

The Taiwan External Trade Development Council, which had an overseas Indian office in Mumbai, is opening one in Chennai to shepherd investors in industries as diverse as electronics and pharmaceuticals to textiles and food processing.

Lets hope that more countries find India as a favorable business destination. This will ensure that too much dependency on the slowing US economy is not there and that gainful employment opportunities are present for more and more Indians.

Sandeep Sahai:President and COO of Headstrong

2008-09-08T10:35:07Z

Sandeep Sahai, the President and Chief Operating Officer of Headstrong has got 19 years of distributed consulting experience. Sahai co-founded TechSpan with Arjun Malhotra, in which he acted as Managing Partner of US Operations (East) & Financial Services which has been merged with Headstrong in October 2003. Before entering Techspan he was the CEO of Virginia-based SkanSoft, a company related to the financial and telecom markets.

Sandeep Sahai is an IIM product as he completed his MBA from IIM, Calcutta.He completed his schooling from Doon school, Dehradun and gained his engineering degree from Institute of Technology, Varanasi. Mr. Sahai has been invited to speak at several industry conferences on offshore outsourcing as a strategic tool for IT managers. Mr. Sahai also played a vital role in organizing and development of HCL James Martin, a joint venture between HCL and James Martin & Company, aimed at higher-end consulting in which he served a 10-year tenure with the HCL group.

Sandeep Sahai performed exceedingly well in providing relationship management for major number of TechSpan’s Financial Services clients during the period in which he served as Managing Director for Clients, Sales and Consultants in North America.Sahai is interested in financial sector as he stated that “We want to be the best consulting company for the financial services industry across the world. We don’t want to be the best IT consulting company. That is not our ambition.”

second person from left of this pic.

WIND ENERGY and its ECONOMY

2008-09-08T10:38:31Z

Wind energy is renewable & posses no major environmental problems. Wind energy potential for different applications cannot be overlooked in a country like India where considerable amount of wind power is available. There is growing international consensus on the challenges in the energy sector from the high cost of oil & long term energy security, to environmental concerns & commitments like Kyoto protocol. Many countries are trying to adopt policies to encourage investment in wind energy and the development of the industry.

There is no fundamental reason why wind turbines cannot be a major part of any utility grid where there are good wind resources, provided they can complete with more familiar systems on the basis of cost , reliability & public acceptance. In this context , wind energy has found a very conducive environment to build synergies in operations around the world. Although wind energy technology demands careful attention to scientific & engineering detail, it is well within the capabilities of most if not all countries & is becoming economically competitive is many regions around the world. In parallel Indian industry has gone through a resurgence of entrepreneurship & emerged with a will to take on the world.

A country wide wind pump demonstration program is being undertaken in India & over 2000 wind pumps have already been executed. It has been verified that the average capital cost & cost of power generation for 1Mw projects undertaken is India so far , ranging between Rs 1.5 to 1.75 crores/Mw & Rs 1.25 to 1.5 Kwh respectively, depending upon the site. These costs are already comparable to those for thermal power generation & lower than generation of power from thermal units. Exactly capitalizing on this Suzlon energy limited ,just over a decade worked to harness the wind across India & became the world largest wind turbine manufacturer in terms of market capitalization.

However due to the diminishing supplies of conventional fuels , cost for thermal power generation has been considerably increasing which made wind energy to play an increasingly important role in world full of booming economics, to power the world with bright future.

Arjun Malhotra:Chairman and CEO of Headstrong

2008-09-08T08:54:06Z

This is about the journey of an electrical engineer who turned out to be a successful entrepreneur and he is none other than ARJUN MALHOTRA, winner of the Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs Award . Arjun Malhotra, chairman and CEO of Headstrong, a global consultancy firm studied in Loretto, St Xaviers, St Columba’s, Doon School and B.Tech. (Hons) in IIT Kharagpur in Electronics & Electrical Communication Engineering. Before going to know about Head strong let us have a brief view about his initial trails and the point where he started extending his roots in business.

In 1975, he co-founded Hindustan Computer Ltd (HCL) with Shiv Nadar, Ajai Chowdhury, D.S Puri, Subhash Arora and Yogesh Vaidya. It became very successful and it is now one of the India’s largest Information Technology corporations.He is the first leading Indian entrepreneur to relocate to USA, Malhotra took over HCL’s US operation in 1989 and grew it to nearly US$100 million annual revenues.In 1992 he organized the HCL-HP joint venture in India, and in 1996 he set up and ran the joint venture with Deluxe Corporation successfully. later he founded Techspan in 1998, with funding from Goldman Sachs and Walden International. Later in 2003, Techspan merged with Headstrong and Arjun Malhotra led the seamless integration, eventually leading to Headstrong’s recognition as one of the fastest-growing IT-based Financial Services companies.

Some other shades of ARJUN MALHOTRA :

Malhotra is a Member of the Board of Governors of IIT (Kharagpur) Foundation and Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. He is currently Co-Chair of the Pan-IIT Alumni Association. He founded the Prof. G.S. Sanyal School of Telecommunications at IIT Kharagpur through a personal endowment.Mr. Malhotra is a FIETE ( Fellow of the Institute of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineers), India ; and a Member of the Institute of Engineers, India (MIE). He has served on the Board of Governors for the Delhi College of Arts & Commerce, University of Delhi, and as Vice President of The Doon School Old Boys Society.

Karsanbhai Khodidas Patel:Man behind “NIRMA”

2008-08-18T09:19:55Z

Karsanbhai Khodidas Patel, the founder of Rs. 2500 crore (US$ 500 million) “NIRMA” group, is from an agricultural family from Mehsana in north Gujarat. After completing his B.Sc. in Chemistry, he worked as Lab Assistant from the age of 21years in New Cotton Mills, Ahmedabad belonging to the Lalbhai group and then in the Geology and Mining Department of the Government of Gujarat. During the time during which domestic detergent market was controlled by MNCs, Dr. Karsanbhai Khodidas Patel started a small-scale enterprise by introducing a quality detergent powder Nirma, (named after his daughter Nirupama) and it became a hugely successful brand. He started door-to-door selling of Nirma at a cheap price of Rs. 3 per kg. The next available cheapest brand in the market at that time was Rs.13 per kg.

Quality & Quantity are the key factors that made Nirma revolutionize the whole detergent powder segment. Since production was labor intensive, and the detergent was phosphate free (hence environment friendly), Nirma became a leading employer. After this success Nirma extended its roots to toilet soaps like Nirma bath and Nirma beauty soap, and Super Nirma detergent. Hence Nirma built up a 30% market share in the premium detergent segment and also achieved a 20% share in premium soaps market. His Ventures into shampoo and toothpaste were not as successful, compared to this the edible salt Shudh is doing well.

In 1995 he started “Nirma Institute of technology” an engineering college in Ahmedabad. Aimed at training and incubating entrepreneurs he launched “Nirma labs” education project in 2004.

Achievements and Accolades:

Dr.Karsanbhai Patel received “Udyog Ratna” by the federation of association of small-scale industries of India.

Florida Atlantic university, USA honoured him with doctorate of human letters.

The Gujarat Chamber of Commerce felicitated him as an ‘Outstanding Industrialist of the Eighties’.

Appointed twice as the chairman of the development council for oils, soaps & detergents by Indian Govt.

Naresh Goyal: Founder Chairman of Jet Airways

2008-08-22T01:45:47Z

Naresh Goyal is the Founder Chairman of Jet Airways, India’s largest domestic airline which presently operates over 320 flights daily to 48 destinations, of which five are international.Jet Airways has been voted India’s “Best Domestic Airline” by several organisations of world-class repute.

Naresh Goyal had to walk for a few miles everyday to school as his parents could not afford a bicycle for him, and started his career as a cashier at his maternal uncle’s company at a starting salary of Rs 300 a month.It is his hard work that made him so rich and in the year 2006 net worth of the Jet Airways is over Rs 8100 crore for which he was listed as sixth richest Indian as per the Business Standard Billionaire Club.

Naresh Goyal completed his graduation in Commerce in 1967 and joined the travel business with the GSA for Lebanese International Airlines. From 1967 to 1974 he learnt the intricacies of the travel business through his association with several foreign airlines.Later in May 1974, Naresh Goyal founded Jetair (Private) Limited to look after Sales and Marketing operations of foreign airlines in India.In 1991, when the Indian economy was being opened up, Naresh Goyal took advantage of Open Skies Policy of the Government of India and set up Jet Airways for the operation of scheduled air services on domestic sectors in India. Jet Airways started commercial operations on May 05, 1993.

Education & Career:Goyal holds a Bachelors of Commerce degree and after completing his education in 1967, joined the travel business as a general sales agent for Lebanese International Airlines.

In 1969, he was appointed the public relation manager of Iraqi Airways .
From 1971 to 1974 was the regional manager for ALIA, Royal Jordanian Airlines.
He gained experience in fields like ticketing, reservations and sales while working with the Indian offices of Middle Eastern Airline.
Later, he was appointed regional manager of Phillipine Airlines where he handled the commercial operations of the airline in India.
Finally, in 1992, he took the big step of setting up his airline - Jet Airways.

Achievements & Accolades:

Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Services’ from Ernst & Young in 2000.
‘Distinguished Alumni Award-2000 for meritorious and distinguished performance as an Entrepreneur’
Outstanding Asian-Indian’ award for leadership and contribution to the global community given by the Indian American Centre for Political Awareness.
‘Aerospace Laurels’ for outstanding contribution in the field of Commercial Air Transport twice, in April 2000 and February 2004.
He received the first BM Munjal Award for Excellence in Learning & Development in the Private Sector category in 2006.

Dr. K. Anji Reddy:Founder-Chairman of Dr Reddy’s Group of Companies

2008-08-06T08:53:47Z

Dr Kallam Anji Reddy founded Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories In 1984, later which penetrated deeper into the Indian Pharmaceutical industry.Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories marked its trade mark in transforming Indian bulk drug industry from import-dependent in mid-80s to self-reliant in mid-90s and finally into the present export-oriented industry.

Journey Of Dr Kallam Anji Reddy:

Dr. K. Anji Reddy completed his B.Sc in Pharmaceuticals and Fine chemicals from Bombay University .
Later in 1969, he completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering from National Chemical Laboratory, Pune.
After that Dr. K. Anji Reddy served in PSU Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited from 1969 to 1975.
Between 1976 to 1980 he acted as the founder-Managing Director of Uniloids Ltd.
Later in between 1980 to 1984 he was the founder-Managing Director of Standard Organics Limited.

In 1993, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories became the first company to take up drug discovery research in India and in April 2001 it became the first non-Japanese Asian pharmaceutical company to list on NYSE. By the end of fiscal year 2005, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories was India’s second largest pharmaceutical company and the youngest among its peer group.
Dr. Reddy is a serving member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade & Industry, Government of India, and has been nominated to the Board of National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER). He is the founder-Chairman of Dr. Reddy’s Foundation for Human & Social Development, a social arm of Dr. Reddy’s, which acts as a catalyst of change to achieve sustainable development.

Awards & Honours:

Awarded with Padma Shri in 2001.
Sir PC Ray award conferred twice, in 1984 and 1992.
Federation of Asian Pharmaceutical Associations (FAPA)’s FAPA-Ishidate Award for Pharmaceutical Research in 1998.
Business India voted him Businessman of the Year in 2001 which is a leading business magazine.
CHEMTECH Foundation bestowed on him the Achiever of the Year award in the year 2000 and the ‘Hall of Fame’ award in 2005, for his Entrepreneurship, Leadership and thrust on Innovation

Raunaq Singh: Founder of the Raunaq Group

2008-08-05T12:19:59Z

Can you imagine a man with absolutely no money whatsoever going on to establish an empire worth over $525 million?

Well that is exactly what Mr. Raunaq Singh did. This is the true story of a man who came to India as a refugee after the Partition of India and started selling steel tubes, first on a bicycle and later from a small shop in Kolkata. Mr. Singh was an industrialist who took an early lead and built an empire from scratch.

That was a time when he could afford only a single paise a day for his meals, yet 40 years later he would go on to employ over 9,000 candidates directly and another 20,000 indirectly.

Mr. Raunaq Singh laid the foundation of his tyre manufacturing empire about 40 years ago and set the stage for India to become a major tyre producer. As a doyen of the business community in northern India as well as due to his expertise in the automotive sector, the Government decided to appoint him as the first chairman of Maruti Limited. He has also held senior positions in the Exim Bank, Export Credit Guarantee Corporation and the Indo-German Consultative Group.

Raunaq Singh’s corporate journey from Lahore to New Delhi, first as a steel tube merchant, then as a steel tubes manufacturer and finally as the founder of Apollo Tyres, has been the stuff of corporate folklore.

He started his corporate journey without a pedigree, higher education or money, essential ingredients for success in corporate India, making it possible for ordinary folks to dream big. He was among the first post-partition breed of businessmen who came to India after the creation of Pakistan with nothing to fall on.

Born on August 16,1922, at Daska in Pakistan, Raunaq Singh learnt the elementary lessons of business skills while being employed as a salesman of a steel pipes merchant in Lahore earning Rs 8 a month — a princely amount in those times. The seeds of entrepreneurship were planted when Raunaq Singh cashed in on an opportunity thrown up by the dearth of waterpipes in the areas around Lahore. The profits he, thus , earned were ploughed back in the form of setting up his own business in steel pipes.

ACHIEVEMENTS:

He was president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), Punjab and Haryana Chamber, Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association and the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).
He was chairman of the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, Engineering Export Promotion Council and various joint business councils.
He was also a member of the executive board of the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce for three years.
The Apollo group of companies includes Bharat Gears, Raunaq International, Raunaq Automotive Components and Menarini Raunaq Pharma and has over 9,000 employees.

His son Kanwar Onkar Singh took over as the chairman of the Apollo Tyres when Mr. Raunaq Singh became chairman emeritus of the group.

Raunaq Singh died on September 30, 2002.

On that day, India lost a charismatic first generation entrepreneur.

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Manju Jalota: Rural Entrepreneur

2008-08-05T10:50:33Z

Manju Jalota was the head of the department of Geography in St. Francis College, Lucknow. She gave up her job to get involved in the traditional crafts. Her job as a teacher was pretty satisfying but it proved to be a very time consuming job. She always had something to do like motivating her class to perform better in the X class or had to deal with the hectic schedule during Board exams. Her career as a teacher spanned nearly 18 years before she decided to ditch it in order to pursue her entrepreneurial dreams.

Near Manju’s house in Lucknow, there was a village from where poor Muslim women would search asking for jobs. As Manju’s daughter was about to get married, she employed some of these women to work on an apparel for her daughter. The result was heartening and held a lot of potential. Heeding to the advice of her daughter’s friends, she held an exhibition at the Maurya Sheraton Hotel in New Delhi where the works of these women were displayed and the response was very encouraging.

For the next two years she tried balancing her school work with her new found passion. Later she was confident enough to resign from her job and concentrated full time promoting traditional crafts of chikankari and zardosi.

She eliminated middle men by giving a fair price to these skilled craft works and that too in a timely and secure way. Slowly she secured the confidence of her people and her label Alankrit now has under its umbrella nearly 40 villages and brings food to many craftsmen by employing them. Her business model is very sound. Generally it takes a person nearly 6 to 8 months to finish a chikan sari, but Manju expedites the process by employing upto 6 women on a single sari and gets the work done in just a week. This way, the employees get paid weekly and saris get delivered quickly. A win win situation for both parties.

Manju’s motto in life is “to keep doing new things”

Manju Jalota won the Outstanding Women Entrepreneur Award of the Federation of Indian Chambers for Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in 2002-2003. Because of her many muslim women are now able to live a dignified and empowered life. India needs more entrepreneurs like her.

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