R.R. Shah, Member Secretary, Planning Commission started thing off eloquently in the session titled ‘The Entrepreneurial Ecosystem’ with a quote:” Man is a measure of all things”. Originality, he said, differentiates the genius from the common person, hence if you have an eccentric person in your organization, allow him to remain as such because he thinks differently, and just might come up with a solution for you. He said that India has great entrepreneurial spirit; around 80% of Indian society is self employed; it is incumbered and just unfold.
Dr. Philip Anderson of INSEAD that India’s advantage lies in its diversity, global networks, its English and that it is affordable to change business models in India since the cash burn rate is low here. On expanding abroad, he quoted the example of Alok Kejriwal of Contests2Win, which moved to China in 2001 because the Indian market wasn’t developing fast enough. He started in Shanghai because he felt that it is the Mumbai of China. His key lessons learnt:
– The right CEO in China is key
– Build a true hybrid; don’t export India to China
– Use Hybrids to tap new resources
Quoting the example of Sula Vineyard, Dr.Anderson said that one should be driven by brand building and ‘not kiss the first pretty lady you see’. From Girija Pande of TCS they learnt that it is best to follow a customer (GE) into foreign markets since they can help you learn and adapt much faster. He feels that the opportunity now lies in understanding megatrends – better understand the micro phenomenon where very large volume of data will need to be dealt with, which is where IT comes in. Also, collaborative models are key since knowledge increasing with sharing, while capital reduces when shared. Dan Sandhu elaborated on what VC’s bring to the table: capital, network and contact base, a governance system and an outside perspective. R.R. Shah, always ready with a quote, defined the need for a VC using a quote from The Sound of Music: I need someone, older and wiser. Rahul Bhasin, Managing Partner, Baring Pvt. Equity Partners instead of giving the VC’s perspective delivered a very entertaining speech crediting, for the IT revolution in India, everyone from the Brits for bringing English to India, George Fernandes for throwing out IBM, some minister in Karnataka for allowing capitation seats in colleges that led to the sprouting up of engineering colleges, and to everone who has contributed to India’s demographic dividend – its population.
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