Keep Moving & Smiling!!🏃🏽😊

This week I gave a speech at the Youth Forum organized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Government of India, to a group of over a hundred Chinese Youth who were a part of a delegation to India. I am sharing a few excerpts of my speech on Entrepreneurship : Ladies & Gentleman, I have been given the topic to speak on Entrepreneurship which is very close to my heart. I will like to share with you all a bit of my story which may help you relate to what Entrepreneurship in India is all about. I was born into a middle-class family. My Grandfather had immigrated from Pakistan to India post-partition in the year 1947. He came to Delhi with virtually nothing and a whole family to feed. However, his Entrepreneurial Instinct was alive and kicking. He believed in his hard work and he started his business on the pavement of a wholesale market in Delhi. Soon his business acumen and relationship skills helped the business grow manifold, the transition happened from Street side Pavement to a ...

My Ma left us for heavenly abode four years ago today. Last, to last year, I wrote about her and feel nothing has changed. In some ways, it seems like many years have passed since she left us. Her absence is part of my daily life now. But there are still times when the wound still feels fresh. At some point many days, I think I should call her and have to remind myself I can no longer do this. Ma was my biggest fan. Growing up, the word that I associate with her is love. I remember as a child that it was unconditional and expressed often. I knew she was proud of me, but I never felt like I had to do anything to earn her love – it was just there. I still have with me in the purse, the letter she wrote to me when I was leaving home for my first job in Mumbai. The values she gave me held me up as a good human being in various parts of my life. She supported me in all major decisions of my life, my decision to start my career in Mumbai, my decision to choose my Life Partner, many ot...

This week I read through the Book 'Bridgital Nation' written by Chairman of Tata Sons, N. Chandrasekaran. It brings to life the challenges of work and access to basic services like health and education through real-life narratives of people across India. This book shows how the deliberate use of Technology with human skills, can solve these issues and place India on an accelerated path to growth and prosperity. It is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand today's India and how it could be a force to be reckoned with in the coming decade. He has taken the view that Technology will influence all industries, it will impact every market and industry at varying speeds. We all need to Embrace Technology and put it to use. Technology is the great growling engine of change. Every aspect of business and life is getting reinvented. I keep telling my friends that Technology is changing the way businesses are being done at present and these changes are so rapid that if we do...

This week I was in Dharamshala to attend Himachal Pradesh Global Investors Meet. There I had the opportunity to listen in person to our Prime Minister. In his speech, he shared his Big Dreams for the Nation, how we all have to work hard to achieve these dreams (he himself is known to be working hard tirelessly without break for years) and at the same time we need to be humble (the way he carried himself with humility). I believe Big Dreams attract Big People. If we have determination and belief in our big dreams, we will succeed in spite of all the hardships we may face. At the same time, we have to work hard to achieve big dreams because they won't be realized without a fight. Besides, we always need to stay humble, share the credit and wealth, remaining focussed and hungry to continue the journey of success. As a Startupreneur over the years, I've learned that failure will always come. We have to learn to give these failures a big squeeze, smile at them, humble ourselves t...

This week was spent post festivities in meeting up with prospective Investors, counseling colleagues and convincing my younger brother to start his exercise regime again. One thread that was common among all the three was to push them to Step Out of Their Comfort Zone. For me, Comfort Zone is a situation where one feels safe or at ease. I strongly believe that stepping out of the Comfort Zone is the key to discovering our passion, accomplishing our goals, and finding happiness. I have seen many times it takes a lot of courage, energy, and motivation to make a bold move and step out of the Comfort Zone. In the last few years of our Startup Journey, I had observed that every time we had an idea or a goal, we would start, but along the way, things would go wrong, distractions, other ideas, other opportunities, failure, negative self-talk, etc, would get in the way. We very quickly learned that we will require self-regulation, self-control, and willpower to come out of our comfort zone....