ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROJECT
ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROJECT

Submitted TO – Ms. Neha BY – Mahima Sharma 50081 Priansha Periwal 50116 BBS 3 HR

Submitted TO – Ms. Neha BY – Mahima Sharma 50081 Priansha Periwal 50116 BBS 3 HR

CULTURAL DIVERSITY AMONG ENTREPRENEURS
CULTURAL DIVERSITY AMONG ENTREPRENEURS

Regardless of who you are or what you have been, you can be what you want to be. – W. Clement Stone
Regardless of who you are or what you have been, you can be what you want to be. – W. Clement Stone
Regardless of who you are or what you have been, you can be what you want to be. – W. Clement Stone
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We owe a great many thanks to a great many people who helped and supported us during the project. The project “CULTURAL DIVERSITY AMONG ENTREPRENEURS” focuses on understanding the diversity that exists among the newly emerged breed of entrepreneurs.We made an effort to understand how people from completely different backgrounds and ways of life, but with a common drive to prove their mettle, end up being their own masters. Our deepest thanks to our college professor, Ms. Neha , who acted as a constant guide and mentor in the process of drafting of this project.
We would also like to acknowledge the support and enthusiasm shown by our batch mates.
We would also extend a heartfelt thanks to our family and well wishers without whom this project would have been a distant dream.

Group members-
Mahima Sharma 50081
Priansha Periwal 50116

TABLE OF CONTENTS

* OBJECTIVES

* INTRODUCTION

* YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS * King Sidharth * Farhad Acidwalla

* WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS * Kiran Mazumdar Shaw * Ekta Kapoor

* MINORITY ENTREPRENEURS * Oprah Winfrey

* SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS * Verghese Kurein * Mohammad Yunus

* GREEN ENTREPRENEURS * Pramod Chaudhari

* COLLEGE DROPOUTS * Subhash chandra goel * Azim premji

* CONCLUSION

* BIBLIOGRAPHY

OBJECTIVES

* To study the cultural diversity existing among entrepreneurs and to analyse how people from completely diverse backgrounds can share a zeal to be their own bosses.

* To examine the cases of various entrepreneurs belonging to the same genre and analysing the similarities and differences that they shared.

* To individually analyze the journey of each entrepreneur to understand his/her idea and creativity at work and how he/she fought against the odds.

INTRODUCTION
If it really was a no-brainer to make it on your own in business there'd be millions of no-brained, harebrained, and otherwise dubiously brained individuals quitting their day jobs and hanging out their own shingles. Nobody would be left to round out the workforce and execute the business plan.

Entrepreneurship is all about the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled.
Entrepreneurship is thus, the process of exploring the opportunities in the market place and arranging resources required to exploit these opportunities for long term gain. It is the process of planning, organizing, opportunities and assuming. Thus it is a risk of business enterprise. It may be distinguished as an ability to take risk independently to make utmost earnings in the market. It is a creative and innovative skill and adapting response to environment.
Agility and the ability to respond quickly to change are seen by many as the key advantages that entrepreneurial businesses have over their more traditional multinational competitors. In general, entrepreneurs can make decisions quickly and change direction in response to a new opportunity or threat.

Cultural Diversity Among Entrepreneurs

Virtually anyone can become an entrepreneur. Infact, diversity is the hallmark for entrepreneurship. The diverse mix of people who make up the rich fabric of entrepreneurship include young, women, social, minority, immigrant, corporate drop-outs, green entrepreneurs and many more.
Culturally diverse entrepreneurship creates cultural value and economic wealth, self-determination and cultural diversity in communities across the globe. Such entrepreneurs are catalysts for cultural innovation through their enterprises.
There have been differences in opinion about their contribution. Some ethnic minority groups have high rates of participation in entrepreneurship, despite operating in inner city environments that might have limited resources and markets. The demographic importance of ethnic minorities tells, however, they have a greater importance in entrepreneurial activity than their relative importance by population might indicate.

Young Entrepreneurs

“Start today, not tomorrow. If anything, you should have started yesterday. The earlier you start, the more time you have to mess up.” – Emil Motycka

THE TREND
Increasingly, youngsters are accepting the possibility that being on a payroll is not the only way to go. As more and more people embrace the opportunity of creating their own payrolls, the trend towards young entrepreneurship is on a significant increase. Still in their teens and fresh to face the world, these people are all set to provide answers to problems they believe exist, without sitting back expecting solutions to emerge out of thin air. As Naresh Ram of ‘Book Lovers’ Program for Schools’, which looks to spread the joy of reading to school children around the city, puts it “There are more start-ups today than ever before. We live in exciting times.”
CULTURAL ACCEPTANCE
Entrepreneurship as a viable career option is definitely a new trend in India. Our traditional understandings of success and well-being have always been undeniably linked with finding a “stable” job, one that will pay the bills on time. The traditional rejection of entrepreneurship can be blamed on a “lack of discipline and a fear of failure.”A main factor in encouraging entrepreneurship is how one’s culture accepts failure and risk taking. It has a direct impact on whether people will start up or not.
Economic backgrounds are also at play and gender bias exists but women are equally aware and are tapping the opportunities that come their way.It would help if people realise entrepreneurship isn’t a ‘cool’ tag to flaunt. Don’t start-up until you are ready to face the challenges.” If there was one mindset change that should happen, it would be that scalability makes all the difference between an entrepreneur and a small business owner.”
Whether it is because of the influx of information or the ease of reaching out to the global village, today, youngsters from around the world can choose to be their own boss and dig for their own answers.It is a question of finding solutions to a problem that moves you enough.Yet, the one thing that young entrepreneurs from around the world seem to agree upon is that entrepreneurship is a way of life. While Julia claims it is a way to see the world, Naresh believes success follows only if you give it everything. Whether it be in Russia or India, entrepreneurs seem to be the emerging trend in youth employment and for good reason. If we cannot answer our own problems, who will?

King Sidharth, 18
-------------------------------------------------
THE OUTLAW ENTREPRENEUR

King is a speaker, author, magazine publisher, rad dude, and he’s organizing a conference for teenagers called Createens. It will give young people an opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship, blogging, and more from world-wide experts.

THE START - As an 11-year-old growing up in a backward sector Northern India, King Sidharth and a few friends began organizing events and competitions for other children. They would make tickets and charge an entry fee, then award little prizes to whoever won. In an area where there wasn’t much else to do, Sidharth’s first business was a big success.
Seven years later, King Sidharth has just graduated from high school and he has already made a name for himself as one of India’s top young entrepreneurs. His primary work is in website development and design (see websites like MeditationRocks.us), but – like many young entrepreneurs – he’s never content working on just one thing.

King is also a speaker on topics of entrepreneurship and spirituality. He’s currently writing an e-magazine for teens (Friendz) and a book about the intersection of spirituality and science (Bhagvad Gita & the Law of Attraction). He’s also developing a movie that peeks into the lives of ten young entrepreneurs (“Friendz: The Movie”). Lastly, King is organizing a conference for teenagers called Createens. It will give young people an opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship, blogging, and more from world-wide experts.

In his own words….
Q: What is the single most important reason for your success?
A: I keep everybody out of the equation and follow my own inner calling. A lot of people get caught up asking, “What do you think, mother of mine? What do you think, father of mine?” But there are a thousand different people and you’re going to get a thousand different responses: somebody pointing you South, ten people pointing you North, even more pointing East. Where are you going to go? Go with yourself. Your point of view is unique in the world.
When you’re done with your vision, then you might ask for advice on minor things. You have to strike a balance. But even after asking people, follow what you think out of it, not what they think.
Take Google and Yahoo. These two are different perspectives of solving the same problem: finding content on the internet. Yahoo keeps on listening to people. Google doesn’t give a darn. They never ask you how their home page should look like. They never ask you anything – and that is really behind their success. They do it themselves. Then later, they might ask you how they could improve it.
Q: Why do you call yourself an outlaw in India?
A: I consider myself an outlaw because I refuse to follow a given pattern. I’m going to reinvent the wheel. My vision of the wheel is unique.
The majority of India thinks, “I’m here. I better play this safe because this is the only life I’ve got. I better get in the rat race that everyone has tried and tested.” How many students in your own class are really interested in enterprising? Are 90% of them just there for the degree? They want to get a good job so that they can get a good life, good money, and be happy. I ask them, “Why don’t you be happy in the first place?” Then you don’t need the degree and you don’t need the job. You can be happy now and then you can do anything you want.
That’s the reason I started Friendz in the first place. I saw talented people wasting their time with work and trying to score marks in exams when they could do so much more. The magazine is a place where teenagers can be themselves. I want to make it a platform for teenagers to know that there is nothing better than following their own passion.
You’re not going to find the real entrepreneurs in universities or online courses. Either you will find them as drop-outs or you will find them in the places least expected. Come to India. Go to the streets. They are street-smart people. They know how to sell. They can sell you your own shoes in two minutes.
Q: Anything else you would like to add?
A: When you start out, whatever project you’re working on, realize that you don’t have to figure everything out about it in the first place. You can’t. You can’t sit on a breakfast table one morning and write out your life plan.
As you move on with your life, it will keep on changing. Creation is never complete. Keep on fine-tuning. If you’re a designer, you will realize that design is never complete. If you are writing a blog post, you will realize that a blog post is never perfect. Google is the best company in the world. But, it is still evolving and it always will be evolving. So, you don’t have to figure out all of the answers before you get started. All you have to figure out to begin with is what you want to do and just get started with it. The rest will come.
If this universe inspired an idea in you, then it has every means to fulfill it. Trust in that. The more you improve, the faster you grow. So, the secret to a bigger business is not finding the perfect plan and sticking to it. If you do that, your business is going to be dead. The secret is to keep on changing, keep on fine-tuning. The best scooter in India was Bajaj LML. For years, that was the only scooter you could get. But they didn’t do any research and they didn’t fine-tune their product. Every other company in India was doing just that. Today, LML has vanished from the market.
Entrepreneurship is never about playing it safe. If you want to play it safe, please close this book and go to sleep. It’s not for you. Life is not for you. Life is never about playing it safe. Life is about playing it fun. That’s behind every entrepreneur. If you go and ask, “What makes you so passionate about your blog, your product, or your business?” It’s because they love changing it and they love how it all comes to form.
Be yourself, nothing else will do.
King Sidharth’S Quote “It was just one year ago that I realized that what I was doing was entrepreneurship. Just two weeks ago, I learned how to spell it [laughs].”

Farrhad Acidwalla, 16
-------------------------------------------------
TOP YOUNG INDIAN ENTREPRENEUR

Farrhad has launched Rockstah Media, a cutting-edge company devoted to web development, marketing, advertisement, and branding. It is just over a year old but it has clients and a full fledged team of developers, designers and market strategists spread across the globe.

THE START - When Farrhad Acidwalla was in the eighth grade, he borrowed $10 from his parents to buy his first domain name. He began building a web community devoted to aviation and aero-modeling. The website took off and eventually Farrhad decided to move on, selling the site for far, far more than his initial $10 investment.
Many similar ventures followed. Each took his achievement to another level and the appreciations left him humble. This motivated him to offer his work under the name of his company.
Since, Farrhad has launched Rockstah Media, a cutting-edge company devoted to web development, marketing, advertisement, and branding. It is just over a year old but it has clients and a full fledged team of developers, designers and market strategists spread across the globe. As the CEO and founder, Farrhad is responsible for taking care of the clients and guiding the creative team to success.
At 16, Farrhad is planning to continue running Rockstah Media, while studying finance at India’s prestigious H.R. College of Commerce & Economics. In his free time, Farrhad enjoys hanging out with friends, playing Playstation, reading, watching movies, and playing the guitar.
In his own words….
Q: What is the single most important reason for your success?
A: I’ve never sat on an idea. If I get something, I act on it. Business is all about taking the leap. Once you take the leap, then you can think about what’s going to happen next. The larger the vision, the larger the need to pave your path with skill and confidence. But, a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step. That first step is the most important thing. There are many in the field and each have their own way and strategies. But one thing that I learned from my mom is to never try to copy anyone. Think of your own thing and move forward with that. Construct your own success with total confidence. I put my vision to test, I love to conceptualize and illustrate and the teams effort in creating awesomeness means a lot.
Never look left or right. Look straight at the path you have paved. Follow your vision and have your ethics in place. Yes I get inspired by those who had the vision and the guts to give it a shape. I love to read success stories as they teach you that failing is a part of the process and one must not deter.
Q: You have a successful and growing company, yet you’ve decided to stay in college. Why?
A: Education never goes to waste. I know I can put the things I learn in college to use in my business. Business is something that’s never certain, there’s always a risk. But, if you have your education in place, it’s going to help you analyze challenges and deal with them. Plus, I think a few degrees to your credit sure feels good. I know there is a view that structured learning is not needed. I feel that education can never harm you and one can put it to use in more ways than one.
It’s not just about making money. But while formal education will make you a living, self education will make you a fortune. If you want to really learn something and make something of yourself, self education is crucial. We learn from glory and from our own failures too.
If you learn and make efforts to manage your time properly and if you have a proper business set up, your business can thrive while you’re in college. College takes a lot of time, but I have my like-minded team who can make up for me at any given moment. My team has always supported me and my parents have always given me solid, unconditional support and that’s what I appreciate the most. I definitely haven’t done all of this on my own.
Q: Anything else you would like to add?
A: For young entrepreneurs, I would say one thing: even if you get success early, it shouldn’t intoxicate you. There are miles to go. There are lots of things to do in life. You need to diversify and be innovative all the time. You shouldn’t lose focus and get intoxicated with success.
Farrhad Acidwalla’s Top Quote
“Failures are the stepping stones to success.”

WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS“A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform.” ~Diane Mariechild | The business landscape is always changing—technological advances, corporate downsizing, restructuring, and telecommuting have reshaped the marketplace. Although these improvements have a great impact on our working environment, perhaps the most notable trend has been the rapid growth in the number of women-owned businesses. According to the Center for Women’s Business Research (2011), three quarters of women-owned businesses are those wherein women own a majority share, and each year, women-owned businesses generate $1.9 trillion in sales.In fact, additional statistics from the Center for Women’s Business Research reveal impressive gains for women in the marketplace: * An estimated 10.1 million companies are owned by women. * Women-owned businesses employ 13 million workers.The “Push” Behind the NumbersWhat’s driving these significant numbers? Women have made remarkable progress in the workplace, but they still face a variety of obstacles in terms of opportunities for career advancement. Thus,entrepreneurship has become a very viable option for women.One out of eleven women owns her own business and is responsible for employing one out of seven workers. It appears that much of the push behind the increase in women-owned businesses is the desire for independence—in large numbers, women have chosen entrepreneurism as their route to financial freedom. As the figures indicate, many women have been able to channel their drive for success into starting and running their own businesses.The “Pull” Exerted by This TrendWomen entrepreneurs are bringing a fresh perspective to the business world, which creates a new generation of inspirational role models. The ideas generated by this dynamic force translate into innovations in the marketplace that benefit both other businesses and individual consumers.In many ways, we are a society in which “money talks.” As women gain more economic power through the success of their own business ventures, they will exert greater influences on the financial, social, and political institutions that will shape the future for all of us. |

KIRAN MAZUMDAR SHAW
The story of Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is one of grit, self confidence and courage. If today she is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world, it is because of her determination.
She started Biocon in 1978 to manufacture enzymes because she didn't get a job as a brewer after getting herself trained in Australia. That was the time nobody was even talking about biotechnology.
Later, she also established two subsidiaries: Syngene (1994) to provide development support services for discovery research; and Clinigene (2000) to cater to clinical development services.
Today, her achievements are unparalleled. She has been awarded the Padma Shri in 1989 and the Padma Bhushan in 2005 by the Government of India.
She was recently named among Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world. She is also on the Forbes list of the world's 100 most powerful women. The Financial Times listed her in the top 50 women in the world.
Kiran Mzaumdar Shaw is the Chairman & Managing Director of Biocon Ltd, Inida’s biggest Biotechnology company. In 2004, she became India,s richest woman. She was born on March 23, 1953 in Bangalore. She had her schooling at Bishop Cotton Girls School and Mount Carmel College at Bangalore. After completing her B.Sc. in Zoology from Bangalore University in 1973, she went to Ballarat University in Melbourne, Australia and qualified as a master brewer. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw started her professional career as a trainee brewer in Carlton & United Beverages in 1974. In 1978, she joined as a Trianee Manager with Biocon Biochemicals Limited in Ireland. In the same year, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw founded Biocon India in collaboration with Biocon Chemicals Limited, with a capital of Rs.10000. She initially faced many problems regarding funds for her business. Banks were hesitant to give loan to her as biotechnology was a totally new field at that pouint of time and she was a woman entrepreneur, which was a rare phenomenon. Biocon’s initial operation was to extract an enzyme from papaya. Under Kiran’s stewardship Biocon transformed from an industrial enzyme company to an integrated biopharmaceutical company with strategic research initiatives.
Today Biocon is recognized as India’s pioneering biotech enterprise. In 2004, Biocon came up with an IPO and the issue was over-subscribed by over 30 times. Post IPO , Kiran held close to 40% of the stock of the company and was regarded as India’s richest woman with an estimated worth of Rs.2100 crores.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is a recipient of several prestigious awards. Thse include ET Businesswoman of the Year , Best Woman Entrepreneur , Model Employer , Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Life Sciences & Healthcare, Leading Exporter , Outstanding Citizen , Technology Pioneer , etc. Government of India also felicitated her with Padmashri(1989) and Padma Bhushan (2005).

In her own words….

Have you at any point in your journey of 33 years, looked back on the day you started Biocon in a rented garage with a capital of Rs 10,000?
It is always nice to reflect on how one started. It is only then one gets the perspective of how big the organisation is today.It is a very nostalgic feeling because it makes you realise that there are such enormous possibilities to get started.I think when you look at how it started and how the organisation is today, you feel wonderful. This is something one never imagined possible.
That is what the journey has been about; about entrepreneurs taking small steps.

With big dreams?
Yes, every entrepreneur wants to succeed and has a big dream. Initially you never think about the big dream. You just want to survive and make sure that your business stays afloat.Once you start succeeding, you start dreaming big. For me, it was that way. I only had a small dream.

What was the small dream you had?
My small dream when I started was about starting a biotech company which was a pioneering concept. It was about running an R&D based business.I was excited about that as a scientist. I didn't know what was in store because I had nothing to benchmark myself against. When you are a pioneer, you don't know how big it can grow.
So, when you start off, your dreams are very small. It is like, 'let me start a new sector based on biotech and R&D and see how big I can make this business'. That is the way it started off, as a small dream.This dream was because of a rebound. I had actually wanted to take up a career and a job. When I didn't get a job (as a brewer), I was quite happy to run a business that is equivalent to a job.As I stared building the company, I also started dreaming bigger and bigger. I would say my dream also grew big like the company.

Today, biotechnology is the one of the most happening fields, but when you started nobody was even talking about it. So, you were like a visionary...
I don't know whether I can call myself a visionary. I was excited about the whole concept of biotechnology. Nobody even understood what biotechnology was 33 years ago.
Pioneering companies always try out new things and experiment with new concepts and new things.

How was it for you when you decided to focus on R&D? I have read that investors were not willing to back you.
Even today, investors are very sceptical about what Biocon can do. They would rather we only imitate. They have a lot of confidence in our imitative generics and bio-similar strategy.Every time we say innovation, they take it with a pinch of salt. They don't want to invest in research as they see it as a risky area.Basically there is a lot of scepticism in this country -- both from the investor community and from the government itself.

As a woman entrepreneur, how has it been for you?
Basically, I am in a very different field. I was unique in many ways. I was a woman entrepreneur and a biotech pioneer. I never looked at myself as a woman entrepreneur because I was always painted as a very different breed of entrepreneur.I had the challenges as a pioneer and I never looked at the challenges as a woman entrepreneur. So as a pioneer, I have been treated very differently. After succeeding, I don't think anyone today sees me as a woman entrepreneur.

Why do you think there are not many successful woman entrepreneurs?
We see many women entrepreneurs today when it comes to small businesses. But where we do not see many success stories is in large businesses. I think it stems from lack of self confidence.Most women feel that they have limitations and they are not cut out to hold such large businesses. That has to change. It is heartening to see family businesses are encouraging their daughters which was not so in the past. That is a good sign.There are lots of executives but not many taking leadership roles. That is why I feel excited to see women like Mallika Srinivasan (CEO of Tractors and Farm Equipment), who is heading a manufacturing entity.
Yes, we need to see more entrepreneurs handling big businesses.

What would be your advice to young entrepreneurs?
First and foremost, I want to tell them that there are no short-cuts to success. I encourage young entrepreneurs because I feel India can grow only through entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is the only job multiplier.In India, there are so many opportunities for young people to start businesses. It is heartening to see so many new ideas.

How does Biocon Chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw define her entrepreneurial journey? “It is a journey from failure to failure, and succeeding in the end,” said Kiran. In an inspiring talk, Kiran shared her thoughts on some of the key aspects of entrepreneurship.
On Risk-taking: “Entrepreneurs are inherent risk-takers, because these are people who believe they can transform. However, risk taking is an act of intelligence and not bravado. It is important to learn how to manage these risks and mitigate these risks.”
On challenging status quo: “Never accept that what worked before will work again. Always think of how you can make it better. Once you ask “Why not?”, you will discover powerful answers.”
On Innovation: “Innovation is meaningful only if can be translated to commercial use. Innovation is not about ideating. Ideating is only the starting point. India has huge challenges, which offers us huge opportunities to innovate.”
On her experience: “Biotech is choked with regulations, and any new drug development comes with huge risks and high failure rates. But you don’t give up because you want new answers, you want to find that one drug that can cure fatal cancers.”

EKTA KAPOOR

Ekta Kapoor has long held the title of the Queen of the Indian Television Industry. While her soaps have been known to be over-the-top and indigestible at many points over the past two decades, few can challenge the truth in her title, with over 15,000 hours of television content on the airwaves since the inception of Balaji Telefilms.
The Entrepreneur
Over 80 distinct television programmes have been churned out of her production house across six different languages; she also has 11 films under her belt as of 2011, with three more scheduled for release in the same year. How did she so successful as a woman entrepreneur and reach where she is today?
A Modest Start For A Superstar’s Daughter

Born in 1975 to Bollywood superstar, Jeetendra, and his wife Shobha, Ekta Kapoor started off in the industry early. At the age of 17, she tried to enter the ranks of Kailash Surendranath, the ad/feature-filmmaker, but was reportedly unsuccessful.
Following her bachelor’s degree in Commerce, and under the advice and financial backing of her father, Ekta started up her production house, Balaji Telefilms, in 1994. Her first six pilots and three filmed ventures were sadly failures, but in 1995, Hum Paanch, a comedy about five sisters, a vaguely nagging mother, and their hapless father, was a relative success.
The company plodded along through the 90s with such moderately well-faring television shows as Mano Ya Na Mano (1995), Dhun Dhamaka (1996), Captain House (1998), Padosan (1998), andItihaas (1997-99), but none that left a major impact. Kanyadaan (1999) was moderately popular.
It was only around the year 2000, that Ekta managed to catch and ride the wave of satellite television revolution in India, to astounding results.
The K-phase:

THE RISE - The early noughties of the new century saw the rise of shows that have left deep and lasting impacts on the Indian psyche.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii, both launched in 2000, have arguably been the most popular. Viewers were introduced to the soap opera in its most dramatic, intense form, with picture quality previously unknown in the grainy realm of Doordarshan and other networks of the 90s.
Balaji Telefilms’ success skyrocketed – within just months, it seemed – with other “K-serials”: Kalash(2001), Kaahin Kissii Roz (2001), Kkusum (2001), Kabhii Sautan Kabhii Sahelii (2002), and a host of others.
By 2005, Balaji Telefilms had something of a monopoly over Indian televisions with shows across all major networks and channels – and had diversified to the Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Telugu sectors as well.
She had become, by this time, Joint Managing Director, Director and Member of the Shareholders Committee of Balaji Telefilms as well. All was not well though: the monopoly led to viewers at large being over-saturated, in a sense.
THE DECLINE - By 2008, the popularity of a number of her soaps began to decline. TRPs decreased to a massive extent for her landmark show, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, which by this time was felt by the public at large overstretched and hard to digest, with such plot devices as multiple deaths, kidnappings, and even reincarnations.
While the lead character had, by the time, been played by a different actress than the one the show began with, the lights were dimmed; the show was taken off the air. A slew of cancellations followed that year: Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii, her other pet project; and Kasautii Zindagii Kay, another popular show, which began in 2001.
Things had begun to seem grim well before 2008 though, but ever the entrepreneur, Ekta started to branch out Balaji Telefilms’ influence in other spheres.
Ekta’s Big Screen Releases

Although Ekta and Balaji Telefilms had already produced four films from 2001 to 2004, they were largely box office (and critical) bombs. Around Ekta’s shaky 2005 period in television came the surprise box office hit she produced, Kya Kool Hai Hum, which starred her brother, Tusshar Kapoor.
The film, a comedy, was among the highest-grossing films of the year. 2007 saw another popular and highly-grossing film, Shootout at Lokhandwala, inspired by Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas, with Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjay Dutt in lead roles.
While 2008 brought another box office bomb in EMI, Ekta took a bold chance two years later in 2010, to produce Dibakar Banerjee’s highly-acclaimed Love Sex aur Dhoka.
The film grossed about 7 crore and garnered a lot of critical praise. 2010 also saw her other production, Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai, grossing over 58 crore (albeit with mixed critical reception). Newer productions included Ragini MMS, a horror/romance fim released in 2011.

Ekta Kapoor, The Woman

Ekta is estimated to have a net worth of about 1.32 crore rupees, with an annual salary of Rs. 66,30,000. She has numerous awards under her belt from the television and film industry, along with being named one of Asia’s Most Powerful Communicators by Asiaweek magazine.

Notorious for her silence about her personal life, we see only the professional, business side of her—an impressive, inspirational figure with just the amount of flexibility required to adapt to the changing needs of her audience of nearly 20 years.

MINORITY
ENTREPRENEURS
“It doesn’t matter who you are, or where you came from. The ability to triumph begins with you. Always.” ~Oprah Winfrey
OPRAH WINFREY
In a career filled with firsts and superlatives, Oprah has managed to amass a sizable fortune, become one of the most powerful people in the entertainment industry, and yet maintain a sense of humility and compassion we all should strive to achieve.
Broadcasting Pioneer:
Born in a small town in Mississippi in 1954 and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, Oprah began her career in broadcasting at age 17 at radio station WVOL. By 19, she was anchoring the news at WTFV-TV, both the the first African-American woman and the youngest person ever to do so. In 1976 she moved to Baltimore, where she co-anchored WJZ-TV's Six O'Clock News. She soon made the switch to doing talk shows, hosting the local People Are Talking.
The Oprah Winfrey Show:
In 1984, Oprah relocated to Chicago to host AM Chicago. Within just one month, it had surpassed Donahue as the #1 local talk show, and within a year it was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show. A year later, it entered national syndication and became the highest-rated talk show in TV history. It has remained the number one talk show for 18 seasons, has won dozens of Emmys, and is seen by an estimated 30 million viewers a week in the United States and is broadcast internationally in 111 countries.
Entertainment Entrepreneur:
Not content to work for somoeone else, in 1988, Oprah founded her own production facility, Harpo Studios ( that's "Oprah" spelled backwards). Since then, it has grown into Harpo, Inc., which employs around 250 full-time people in television and film production, magazine publishing, and online media. She is also co-founder of Oxygen Media, which operates the Oxygen Network, a cable network for women reaching more than 54 million viewers.
Movies:
In 1985 Oprah gave a breakout performance as "Sofia" in Stephen Spielberg's The Color Purple, garnering both Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. She has also acted in several made-for-TV movies. In 1990, she founded Harpo Films to work on projects based on contemporary and classic literature, such as 1998's Beloved, based on Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and co-starring Oprah and Danny Glover. Harpo has a long-term deal with ABC to produce the "Oprah Winfrey Presents" telefilms.

O Magazine:
In 2000, in partnership with Hearst Magazines, Oprah launched O, The Oprah Magazine, a monthly magazine that has become one of today's top women's lifestyle publications. It now has a circulation of more than two million monthly readers (more than Martha Stewart Living or Vogue) and Fortune called it "the most successful startup ever in the industry". In 2004, she launched O at Home, a seasonal home design magazine.
Internet Innovator:
With three million users per month generating 45 million page views, Oprah.com is one of the top women's lifestyle websites, covering a variety of topics, as well as providing in-depth resources about the show. It's also the home of Oprah's Book Club, now the largest book club in the world with more than half a million members. It's also the home of Live Your Best Life, an multimedia section featuring Oprah's personal life stories, life lessons, and an interactive workbook.
Private Life:
For a very public person, Oprah lives a remarkably private life. That's by design. Harpo employees are barred from talking or writing about her personal or business affairs and those of her company for the rest of their lives. Only once did a former employee, Elizabeth Coady, challenge it in court. Coady lost and Oprah's business and personal life remain remarkably private. Her companion, Stedman Graham, is a prominent management and marketing consultant with two best-selling books to his name.
Philanthropy:
In 1987 Oprah created The Oprah Winfrey Foundation "to support the education and empowerment of women, children and families in the United States and around the world." The charity has awarded millions of dollars to organizations throughout the world to improve education and health care. In 1997 she founded Oprah's Angel Network to inspire people to make a difference in the lives of others. So far the group has raised $27 million almost entirely from audience donations.
The Accidental Businesswoman:
Although she's a billionaire (the first black woman to achieve it) with a long list of business accomplishments and awards, Oprah told Fortune Magazine, "I don't think of myself as a businesswoman. The only time I think about being a businesswoman is now, while I'm talking to you. There's this part of me that's afraid of what will happen if I believe it all." She's turned down invitations to join the corporate boards of AT&T, Ralph Lauren, and Intel. But by most people's accounts, she's the most powerful woman in the entertainment industry.
Oprah's tremendous appeal comes from the fact that, although certain aspects of her life are very private, as Patricia Sellers put it, "Oprah's life is the essence of her brand, and her willingness to open up about it on daytime TV helped win the enduring trust of her audience." Oprah has maintained strict control of that brand, turning away countless requests for her to lend her name to a wide variety of products. Everything with her name on it is put out by her company under her direct supervision. Even the deals with ABC, Oxygen Network, and Hearst Magazines are basically distribution deals -- she retains full control. She owns 90% of Harpo's stock.
In the end, though, it's not all about the money. From her philanthropic efforts to the inspirational and educational nature of her shows to her book club to her Live Your Best Life program, it's clear that Oprah is all about two things: living a great life for yourself and making a difference in the world. She seems to have mastered both.
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSa Rare Breed

“Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry.”
-Bill Drayton (Ashoka Founder)

What is a Social Entrepreneur?
Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change.Rather than leaving societal needs to the government or business sectors, social entrepreneurs find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution, and persuading entire societies to take new leaps.
Social entrepreneurs often seem to be possessed by their ideas, committing their lives to changing the direction of their field. They are both visionaries and ultimate realists, concerned with the practical implementation of their vision above all else.
Each social entrepreneur presents ideas that are user-friendly, understandable, ethical, and engage widespread support in order to maximize the number of local people that will stand up, seize their idea, and implement with it. In other words, every leading social entrepreneur is a mass recruiter of local changemakers—a role model proving that citizens who channel their passion into action can do almost anything.Over the past two decades, the citizen sector has discovered what the business sector learned long ago: There is nothing as powerful as a new idea in the hands of a first-class entrepreneur.
Why "Social" Entrepreneur?
Just as entrepreneurs change the face of business, social entrepreneurs act as the change agents for society, seizing opportunities others miss and improving systems, inventing new approaches, and creating solutions to change society for the better. While a business entrepreneur might create entirely new industries, a social entrepreneur comes up with new solutions to social problems and then implements them on a large scale.
Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change.

VERGHESE KURIEN
Verghese Kurien (26 November 1921 – 9 September 2012) was an Indian engineer and renowned social entrepreneur, best known as the "Father of the White Revolution", for his 'billion-litre idea' or Operation Flood — the world's biggest agricultural development programme. The operation took India from being a milk-deficient nation, to the largest milk producer in the world, surpassing the USA in 1998, with about 17 percent of global output in 2010–11, which in 30 years doubled the milk available to every person. Dairy farming became India’s largest self-sustaining industry. He made the country self-sufficient in edible oils too later on,taking head-on the powerful and entrenched oil supplying lobby.

THE UNDETERRED WILL He would brook no meddling from the political class or bureaucrats sitting in the capital cities, letting it be known upfront, though he, and his mentor and colleague, Tribhuvandas Patel were backed by the few enlightened political leaders and bureaucrats of the early Independence days who saw merit in their pioneering cooperative model. He founded around 30 institutions of excellence (like AMUL, GCMMF, IRMA, NDDB) which are owned, managed by farmers and run by professionals. As the founding chairman of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), Kurien was responsible for the creation and success of the Amul brand of dairy products. A key achievement at Amul was the invention of milk powder processed from buffalo milk(abundant in India), as opposed to that made from cow-milk, in the then major milk producing nations. His achievements with the Amul dairy led Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri to appoint him founder-chairman of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in 1965, to replicate Amul's "Anand model" nationwide.
One of the greatest proponents of the cooperative movement in the world, his work has alleviated millions out of poverty not only in India but also outside. Hailed as the "Milkman of India", Kurien won several awards including the Padma Vibhushan (India's second-highest civilian honour), the World Food Prize and the Magsaysay Award for community leadership.

PERSONAL LIFE
Born on 26 November 1921 at Calicut, Madras Presidency, British India (now Kozhikode, Kerala) into a Syrian Christian family, he would later turn an Atheist. His father was a civil surgeon in Cochin (Kochi, Kerala). He went on to marry Molly, the daughter of a friend of his father.
He graduated in Physics from Loyola College, Madras in 1940 and then obtained his Bachelors in mechanical engineering from the University of Madras. After completing his degree, he joined the Tata Steel Technical Institute, Jamshedpur from where he graduated in 1946.
Later, as Kurien would say in his own words, "I was sent to the United States to study dairy engineering (on the only government scholarship left) at Michigan State University. I cheated a bit though, and studied metallurgical and nuclear engineering, disciplines that I believed were likely to be of far greater use to my soon-to-be Independent country and, quite frankly, to me."
He did however train for dairy technology later on, on a government sponsorship to New Zealand, a bastion of cooperative dairying then, when he had to learn to set up the Amul dairy.

CAREER
Kurien arrived back on 13 May 1949, after his master's degree, and was quickly deputed to the Government of India's experimental creamery, at Anand in Gujarat's Kheda district by the government and rather half-heartedly served out his bond period against the scholarship given by them. He had already made up his mind to quit mid-way, but was pursuaded to stay back at Anand byTribhuvandas Patel (who would later share the Magsaysay with him) who had brought together Kheda's farmers as a cooperative union to process and sell their milk, a pioneering concept at the time.
The Amul pattern of cooperatives became so successful, that in 1965 Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri created the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) to replicate the program nationwide citing Kurien's "extraordinary and dynamic leadership" upon naming him chairman.
As the 'Amul dairy experiment' was replicated in Gujarat's districts in the neighbourhood of Anand , Kurien set all of them up under GCMMF in 1973 to sell the combined produce of the dairies under a single Amul brand. Today GCMMF sells Amul products not only in India but also overseas. He quit the post of GCMMF Chairman in 2006 following disagreement with the GCMMF management.

When the National Dairy Development Board expanded the scope of Operation Flood to cover the entire country in its Phase 2 program in 1979: Kurien founded the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA). Kurien played a key role in many other organizations, like chairing the Viksit Bharat Foundation, a body set up by the President of India. Kurien was mentioned by the Ashoka Foundation as one of the eminent present Day Social Entrepreneurs. Kurien's life story is chronicled in his memoir I Too Had a Dream. Interestingly Kurien, the person who revolutionized the availability of milk in India did not drink milk himself. Nevertheless, the work of Kurien & his team in India took India from a milk importer to a milk & milk-products exporting nation within the span of 2 decades.

FILM AND ITS USE IN ENLARGING THE MOVEMENT
Veteran film-maker Shyam Benegal, then an advertising executive whoed Manthan (the churning of the 'milk ocean'). Not able to finance it, Benegal was helped by Kurien who hit upon an idea of getting each of his half a million farmers to contribute a token two rupees for the making of the movie. Manthan hit a chord with the audience immediately when it was shown in Gujarat in 1976, which impressed distributors to release it before audiences, nationwide. It was critically acclaimed and went on to win national awards the following year and was later shown on television to the public.
The movie's success gave Kurien another idea. Like shown in the film, a vet, a milk technician and a fodder specialist who could explain the value of cross-breeding of milch cattle would tour other parts of the country along with the film's prints, to woo farmers there to create cooperatives of their own.
UNDP would use the movie to start similar cooperatives in Latin America.

MOHAMMAD YUNUS | |
Muhammad Yunus has long been a hero of the social entrepreneur community for his work in creating the Grameen Bank, and transforming the micro-credit movement. Now that he has been awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for this work, Yunus has been virtually canonised by the social entrepreneur movement. Not that he is going to rest up on the conference circuit as a “living saint” — Yunus has now put his hat into the political ring in Bangladesh ... a move which was often commented on in the different workshops at the Forum (with several participants expressing fears that the most prominent hero of the social entrepreneur movement would be tainted by the political involvement).
“Many of the problems in the world remain unresolved because we continue to interpret capitalism too narrowly. In this narrow interpretation we create a one-dimensional human being to play the role of entrepreneur. We insulate him from other dimensions of life, such as, religious, emotional, political dimensions. He is dedicated to one mission in his business life ---- to maximize profit. He is supported by masses of one-dimensional human beings who back him up with their investment money to achieve the same mission... I think things are going wrong not because of "market failure". It is much deeper than that. Let us be brave and admit that it is because of "conceptualisation failure". More specifically, it is the failure to capture the essence of a human being in our theory.” — Dr. Muhammad Yunus

GATHERING RESOURCES – AN IDEA IN ITSELF
In his presentation, Yunus described how he had been able to attract private capital to fund a variety of socially driven businesses in Bangladesh. GrameenPhone, a for-profit telecom outfit, is 51% owned by Norway's Telenor (TELN ). It works with the not-for-profit Grameen Telecom to provide bulk airtime for village phones which are built from simple handsets and solar chargers. Funded by loans to individual women, these systems function as pay phones in many rural areas. Nowadays the idea of a “village phone lady” is catching on in other parts of Asia and Africa, with the local entrepreneur providing other associated services using low-cost, high-tech systems.

Another enterprise, Grameen Shakti, sells around 1,500 home solar-panel systems per month throughout rural Bangladesh and is growing 15% a year without subsidies. Yunus is also developing a partnership between Grameen and the French company Danone to make a nutritious and inexpensive baby formula. Next on his list are low-cost eye care and rural hospitals with video-conferencing between villagers and doctors in Dhaka

YUNUS and the GRAMEEN BANK
Muhammad Yunus has had phenomenal success helping people lift themselves out of poverty in rural Bangladesh by providing them with credit without requiring collateral. Yunus developed his revolutionary micro-credit system with the belief that it would be a cost effective and scalable weapon to fight poverty.

THE SPARK - Yunus told his story and that of the bank in the book "Banker to the Poor," co-authored by him and Alan Jolis. In the book, Yunus recalls that in 1974 he was teaching economics at a Chittagong University in southern Bangladesh, when the country experienced a terrible famine in which thousands starved to death.
"We tried to ignore it," he says. "But then skeleton-like people began showing up in the capital, Dhaka. Soon the trickle became a flood. Hungry people were everywhere. Often they sat so still that one could not be sure whether they were alive or dead. They all looked alike: men, women, children. Old people looked like children, and children looked like old people.
The thrill he had once experienced studying economics and teaching his students elegant economic theories that could supposedly cure societal problems soon left him entirely. As the famine worsened he began to dread his own lectures.
"Nothing in the economic theories I taught reflected the life around me. How could I go on telling my students make believe stories in the name of economics? I needed to run away from these theories and from my textbooks and discover the real-life economics of a poor person's existence."

THE BEGINNING - Yunus went to the nearby village of Jobra where he learned the economic realities of the poor. Yunus wanted to help, and he cooked up several plans working with his students. He found that one of his many ideas was more successful than the rest: offering people tiny loans for self-employment. Grameen Bank was born and an economic revolution had begun.
Grameen Bank has reversed conventional banking wisdom by focusing on women borrowers, dispensing of the requirement of collateral and extending loans only to the very poorest borrowers. In fact, to qualify for a loan from the Grameen Bank, a villager must demonstrate that her family owns less than one half acre of land.

THE ACHIEVEMENT - The bank has provided $4.7 billion dollars to 4.4 million families in rural Bangladesh. With 1,417 branches, Grameen provides services in 51,000 villages, covering three quarters of all the villages in Bangladesh. Yet its system is largely based on mutual trust and the enterprise and accountability of millions of women villagers.
Today, more than 250 institutions in nearly 100 countries operate micro-credit programs based on the Grameen Bank model, while thousands of other micro-credit programs have emulated, adapted or been inspired by the Grameen Bank. According to one expert in innovative government, the program established by Yunus at the Grameen Bank "is the single most important development in the third world in the last 100 years, and I don't think any two people will disagree."

GREEN ENTREPRENEURS

It is a blessed thing that in every age someone has had the individuality enough and courage enough to stand by his own convictions.

What is a green entrepreneur?
Green: A product, service, or process that either benefits the environment or reduces the negative environmental impact of existing products, services, or processes.
Entrepreneur: A person who is willing to launch a new venture or enterprise and accept full responsibility for the outcome.
Putting these together, a green entrepreneur is someone who starts a business to make or offer a product, service, or process that benefits the environment.
Much of green is about solving old problems in new ways. For example: * How can we create energy without polluting the environment? * How can we produce or sell goods using as few resources as possible? * How can we keep our houses warm in winter and cool in summer without burning fossil fuels? * How can we build vehicles that use as little gas as possible?
Green entrepreneurs are people who have (or seek out) the knowledge, initiative, and resources to solve these problems or find innovative ways to bring existing solutions to market.
Why Become a Green Entrepreneur? * Some entrepreneurs start a green business primarily because of their passion for the environment. They see a need for an environmentally-friendly solution, and they work toward creating a product or service that meets the need. They might be targeting a market niche, but the desire to do something good for the planet is what really drives them.

* For others, helping the environment is an added benefit, but not necessarily the main motivation. Some scientists and innovators are naturally curious about finding new ways to create things. Others see a market need that just happens to have an environmentally-friendly solution. For example, running a manufacturing company that uses energy-efficient and low-waste processes is good for the environment, but it can also be cost-effective.

* Still others have discovered that there is a "green" application to a product that already exists. For example, a manufacturer of liquid pumps and flow valves designed to pump and control the flow of oil or gas might realize that these products can also be marketed to utilities or wastewater treatment plans to conserve water, or to channel it efficiently. Marketing an existing product to a new type of customer is a more incremental, less risky approach to green entrepreneurship.

PRAMOD CHAUDHARI

It has been 25 years of entrepreneurship for Pramod Chaudhari. A successful entrepreneur, he describes his experience as an exciting journey full of ups and downs.

After his engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Pramod Chaudhari worked for a multinational company for a few years. Later, he decided to start his own venture. Passionate about green technologies, he established Praj Industries in 1984.
It was not an easy ride. He failed many times but that did not deter him from taking new initiatives and moving ahead. His never-say-die attitude and optimism made sure he built a world-renowned company. Under his leadership, Praj focusses on offering innovative solutions to add value in bio-ethanol, bio-diesel, brewery plants and process equipment and systems for customers worldwide.
Praj has been creating innovative technology platforms to make biofuels a sustainable choice toward making a greener planet.Praj was recently conferred the 'Forbes Best Under a Billion Company' in Asia, for the second consecutive year, based on its consistent growth and profitability over three years.Chaudhari has also contributed to the National Biofuels Policy as a member of the Committee on Development of Biofuels, Planning Commission for introduction of renewable fuels to India.
He believes that innovation and entrepreneurship must go hand in hand to build sustainable solutions. Stressing the importance of intrapreneurships, he says, young managers within a company, who have good skills and ideas must be encouraged to develop their ideas.

In his own words….

How difficult was it to leave a good job and start a venture on your own?
It was very difficult as I was working for a MNC. But my father had confidence that I will do something different. I told them that I will give it a try for about five years and I won't be a burden to them.

What are the core activities of Praj?
Our core business is to offer technology design and machinery for the production of bio fuels. We try to bring in green technology in our day-to-day activities, like green design, green manufacturing, energy efficient technologies and waste water treatment.
We operate on five parameters. Our products facilitate the use of bio fuels, our processes are green as they consumes less water and less energy. In all our processes we keep a tab on low energy consumption, lesser paper use. We also encourage our employees to take part in social activities related to the environment. So we complete the pentagon of green initiatives.

What kind of challenges do you face?
It is a big challenge to make these products cost effective and commercially viable.

How do you see India's role in green technology area?
It is a new avenue. Thirty years ago, India was trailing by 20 years in terms of green technology initiatives. Today, we are almost close to the Western world. Thanks to the liberalisation that started in the 1990's, we are able to catch up with the West on many fronts, IT was the first.
We got the full benefit of IT and now it is stabilising. We are in the forefront of bio technology and green technology now. We have good talent in India so in terms of clean technology we are at par with the world.

Is there lot of market for start-ups in the clean technology area?
The market is huge. For new entrants, there is a document called NAPCC (National Action Plan for Climate Change), released by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year. It lists ten missions like solar, water, etc. . . so each mission offers huge opportunity. The biggest will be solar projects.

Do you face a talent, manpower shortage?
We do not face any shortage. There is a huge talent available in tier-2 cities in Maharashtra and in other parts of the country.

You talked about intrapreneurs? How do you plan to encourage intrapreneurship?
We encourage our own employees to come up with ideas, take risks, be responsible to the bottomline. It could be a new design, new business model, etc. I feel this generation is very lucky as there is a lot of support. There are lot of government agencies and financial institutions to support them.
When I started there was hardly anything. So it depends on the risk-taking ability of entrepreneurs. So they should become intrapreneurs as there is a safety net in an organisation. So intrapreneurship is not a bad idea. It's not inferior to entrepreneurship. They may be as good as entrepreneurs.The innovative contribution of entrepreneurs is supported by intrapreneurs to make a successful organisation.
Praj has launched the 'Maha-Intrapreneur Award' to recognise the efforts of intrapreneurs.

There is too much focus on services than product development in India. What are your views?
Service is not a bad idea. It requires lesser capital. The growth prospects, however, will be limited in terms of services. Service is good to create more employment.
For instance, if an entrepreneur wants to expand business in another place he must find an entrepreneur there and make him expand business, that way more people get involved without hiking his overhead costs.
To develop products, you need a lot of capital. But there are agencies and venture capitalists that can help you with he capital as well. However, making a product or a prototype takes a long time or you need a lot of patience.
There is a gap in the funding for many start-ups as angel funding dries up and VCs find it small-ticket business. So many technologies don't see the light of the day. The gap between angel funding and VCs needs to be bridged.

What are the reasons for your success?
I really don't know. I don't have a recipe for success. I believe that one has to be very lucky and be at the right place at the right time. You have to go on trying, put in a lot of effort till Lady Luck smiles at you. I have hit the bottom twice but my optimism helped me survive.

What would be your advice to entrepreneurs?
The decision to become an entrepreneur itself is a great achievement. Creating value for whatever product or service is good. However, the focus must be to offer a solution for the society, solutions to make this planet a better place

COLLEGE DROPOUTS
“The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” ~Ayn Rand

SUBHASH CHANDRA

Serial Entrepreneur
It is hard to say what the real business of Subhash Chandra is. He left his studies after completing his 12th and most people refer to him as a media mogul, but that hardly does justice to his interests in variety of businesses, which form part of the Essel group. Managing a diversified conglomerate is not such a unique distinction. What sets apart Subhash Chandra from the rest is that he was the pioneer in most categories and he saw opportunities in new areas, which was not visible to many established business houses.
THE JOURNEY
Born in a business family in Haryana, Chandra’s family was engaged in rice trading. When Subhash Chandra took the reins of the family business, the family was in debt of Rs five lakhs. He along with his brothers got into rice trading and exports. His company used to procure and supply rice to Food Corporation of India. He earned a fortune exporting rice to Russia. On being asked pointedly by the interviewer, did he really make a huge fortune in that contract, he admitted that in 1983, there was an income tax claim of Rs 150 crore on his company.
He invested the capital created to enter the packaging business. Essel packaging was the first company in India to introduce laminated tubes for packaging toothpastes. Seemingly, packaging appears far removed from rice trading. Yet, Mr Chandra informed that while storing rice in open yards, he got exposed to variety of packaging materials and caught his attention. Today, Essel packaging is a world leader in laminated tubes with factories in all the five continents. It has a 38 % market share in toothpaste packaging worldwide. The next venture of Subhash Chandra was Esselworld, India’s first amusement park. Although not very profitable, this gave him an insight into the family entertainment business, which had a big role in days to come. He confessed in the interview that the Maharashtra government of the day was very oppressive and bureaucratic, compelling him to look outside the amusement park business for growth. He wanted to enter a business where there will be minimum hindrance between the entertainer and the entertained. This made him look at the television business. Zee TV was the first Indian language channel on the satellite television. This went on to be a huge success. Subhash Chandra and ZEE did face a lot of difficulties in dealing with Rupert Murdoch and later even broke away from STAR. Zee lost its pole position in the General entertainment space in Hindi to Star Plus. Even today it is among the top 3 GE channel along with Star Plus and Colors. Zee TV network today has over 15 channels in many languages and as per Subhash Chandra, as a network they have the largest number of viewers and market-share in India. Not content to sit on his laurels, after the Zee success, Subhash Chandra wanted to enter the satellite communications business, through Agrani. This was around the time when Motorola was launching the Iridium project. This technology had its inherent problems and could not compete with the cellular phone. Although Agrani, never saw the light of the day, this experiment led to his entering the Direct-to-home TV business, through Dish TV. Once again, the first private business house to enter the DTH business. Among all the listed companies of Essel Group, Dish TV has the highest market capitalization. Subhash Chandra also pioneered the online lottery in India. Playwin had its brief period of success, later got mired in various legal troubles, as many states banned lotteries. Essel group also has a moderately successful newspaper in DNA. It has been able to make a mark of its own in the crowded space. Subhash Chandra claims that during this recessionary times, DNA is doing better than others because of its low advertising tariffs. One failure that may be causing Subhash Chandra a great deal of heartburn must be the Indian Cricket League (ICL). ICL had most of the ingredients to become hugely successful, except for the blessings of BCCI. Indian Premier League (IPL) which has borrowed many ideas from ICL has been a monster hit, in its two editions. Through means, fair and foul, ICL has been decimated by BCCI, so much so, that some of the best players it had contracted have left ICL. Subhash Chandra could have become the Kerry Packer of India if ICL had become successful. Nobody can refute that ICL was the first T20 league in India and credit must go to Subhash Chandra. Now, Chandra is itching to move on to something more exciting. He is also keen to enter businesses which are more annuities like, rather than the high-maintenance media business which requires continuous management attention. One idea his group is working on is in the area of creating a chain of wellness clinics across the country. Subhash Chandra has his share of critics. He is considered a very mean competitor. He also has a poor record of professionalizing the management of his share market boom, Zee stock was among the favorites of the market. It got closely linked to Ketan Parekh. When the bust happened, many an investor incurred heavy losses in the stock, which they have not recovered to this day. He has had failed ventures too like Zee computer education and KIDZEE.
Yet, one cannot but admire this entrepreneur who has been spotting new opportunities and creating successful businesses, one after the other

AZIM PREMJI

Wipro Products Ltd was run by Premji’s father. In 1966, PRemji was completing his degree in engineering at Stanford University when his father died. He later was able to finish getting his degree in electrical engineering with correspondence courses. .Just 21, Premji took over the family oil business.
Under Premji’s leadership Wipro Corporation began to expand and diversify. General Electric used Wipro to manufacture light bulbs, shampoo, baby care products and powder. By 1975, Premji started Wipro Fluid Power to make hydraulic cylinders and also truck tippers.
In the 1980’s IMBM was kicked out of India creating a vacuum in the technology field. With Pemji’s interest in electrical engineering, Wipro was a natural entry into the IT field. Wipro was issued a special license from Sentinel. They began manufacturing hardware for computers and then branched out to software development.
Wipro is the largest outsourcing company in India and its research and development unit is the world largest independent group. Under Pemji’s guidance,Wipro grew from a $1.5 million oil company to a $662 million diversified conglomerate.
Premji believes in growth through delivering value with integrity to the customer. Wipro became the first Indian company to implement the Six Sigma program. It was also achieved SEI CMM Level 5 (the first software company to earn this distinction), and it also achieved PCMM Level 5 (People Capability Maturity Model), the world’s first organization to gain this level.
Premji has been awarded numerous honors. Honors in 2000 included an honorary doctorate by both the Manipal Academy of Higher Education in India and Roorkee and the Business Man of the Year by Business India. In 2003, Forbes named Premji to two distinguished lists – one of the 10 people globally, who have the most “power to effect change” and one of the 25 most powerful business leaders outside the US, Also in 2003, and Business Week had Premji’s picture on its October cover titled “India’s Tech King”. In 2004, his honors included top 25 billionaires who have done most to bring about significant and lasting social, political or cultural changes by the Financial Times, and as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2005, he received one of his countries highest honors for a civilian, the Padmabhushana. He is a member of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Committee for Information Technology in India.
CSR - Established by Premji in 2001, the Azim Premji Foundation focuses on quality education to build a just, equitable and humane society. 1.8 million children are partaking in various programs. The Foundation’s does not focus primarily on Information Technology education, but instead it tries to improve the quality of general education, especially in rural schools. Over 70 educational CD’s have been created for Indian schools.
CONCLUSION
"Innovation is the specific tool of entrepreneurs, the means by which they exploit change as an opportunity for a different business or a different service. It is capable of being presented as a discipline, capable of being learned, capable of being practiced. Entrepreneurs need to search purposefully for the sources of innovation, the changes and their symptoms that indicate opportunities for successful innovation. And they need to know and to apply the principles of successful innovation." - Peter F. Drucker * The importance of innovation and creativity to help any business enterprise flourish cannot be over-emphasized, but it is equally important to strike a balance between the ideas which an entrepreneurial mind conceives and implementing them just in the desired way.

* When we talk about various players in business, hailing from different backgrounds and cultures, it is not only an amalgamation of their ideas but also the spirit and ethos of their cultures which blend together and formulate brilliant products and services, the world has ever seen.

* We have very strongly realized that the concepts and theories of creativity, innovation, strategic management and the likes , not really verbatim but somehow do form an extremely vital part of any entrepreneur’s journey towards success.

* Following your dreams might not always make you earn millions but the sense of satisfaction of being your own boss brings people joy and self sufficiency and a sense of contributing to the world.

* In a nutshell, the cultural diversity of entrepreneurs teaches us that apart from success or money or fame, it’s about a the zeal to follow your passion and do something out-of-the box that connects these different people.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

* www.entrepreneur.com/tsu/index.html * yourstory.in/ * www.youthkiawaaz.com/.../top-10-women-entrepreneurs-and-leaders.. * bx.businessweek.com/social-entrepreneurship/ * www.muhammadyunus.org/ * www.iseek.org/.../green/.../what-green-entrepreneurship. * www.forbes.com/.../business-tips-from-college-dropouts- * Essentials of Entrepreneurship and Small Business - BY Scarborough and Zimmerer