Bharat Entrepreneurs

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.

Popularity: 20%

” When I thought of starting a company, I felt India needed 100 people like Narayana Murthy and Ambani. If 100 such people support 2 lakh people each, imagine how many Indians get supported. Entrepreneurship is needed to uplift the poor. It is not easy to be an entrepreneur, especially a first generation entrepreneur. There will be lots of challenges in the beginning but you should learn to look for the light at the end of the tunnel. Never give up even if there are hurdles. There are many who give up within a week. You need determination and a tough mind to cross the initial hurdles.” E.Sarathbabu

E. SarathBabu is not the typical IIM Ahmedabad student you read about in the newspapers. He did not take the easy path to earn mega bucks in spite of being offered plum jobs from top companies. Instead he chose, like a true entrepreneur, to carve out his own path to success. So he started FOODKING.

His mother worked as an ayah in an Anganvadi to educate him and his siblings. Later he went on to complete his higher education in the prestigious BITS Pilani and IIM Ahmedabad.

In the beginning, he took a loan of Rs 20 lakh and started Foodking in August 2006. Initially the losses were poised at Rs 2000 a day. The cafeteria’s he set up initially did not work according to plan and he soon came to the conviction that only by selling in large volumes that any profit could be made.

In 2006 IIM A alumni meet, he hoped to bag a contract but could not.

In march 2007 he got an offer to start a unit at BITS, Pilani. This contract proved profitable. Spurred with this initial profit and with the money that he borrowed from his IIM A friends, he wanted to move ahead. He got BITS Goa contract which was to be his biggest break. He had to cater to over 1300 students and the sales peaked at 65,000 Rs per day.

Then he got an opportunity to serve at SRM deemed college which boasts of over 17,000 students!

Right now he has a turn around of Rs 3.5 crore per annum. By next year he hope to increase it to Rs 20 crores.

At present he has BITS hyderabad in his hands and it all set to be operational by July 2008. So the future does look rosy to this Foodking.

http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/aug/31spec.htm

Popularity: 41%