Entrepreneurship in Daily Life!
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 shop of his own and then many shops in the same market. My Grandfather asked his brothers to join him in good faith. Everything was good till he & his brothers became old and they decided to hand over the business to the next generation.
As Business was being handed over to the next generation, the business itself was going through a change and it required some strategic decisions. Now the good faith was turning into mistrust and the Leadership required was missing. Mistrust resulted in infighting, typical of Indian family business. Brothers became foes, splitting businesses, shops resulted in huge losses. My Father was virtually on the road with no money, no education and he also now had a family to feed. However, again there was this indomitable Entrepreneurial Spirit that made him restart fresh.
Over the years, he worked hard 16 hours a day to provide the best of education to his children, Provide all the basic comforts which he could with his limited means. Being the elder son of the family, I saw all the hardships and became a responsible very early part of my life. I was giving a helping hand whenever his business required, taught me the basics of business, how to do business with integrity and good faith, always believing that one day all this hard work will pay off. In my Dad's business, I came in touch with Professionals who had acquired B school degrees and were working for Big Corporates. Soon Professional Qualification became my passport to Corporate Life.
I acquired the Professional qualification as early as possible and soon entered the corporate world. However, while working in the corporate world also, I was not seeing my work as a 9 to 5 job but my own business. My Seniors saw this Entrepreneurial Spirit of mine and grew within the ranks much faster. My Banking job gave me exposure to many businesses and traveled across the world. I was enjoying my work and 20 Years just passed in a jiffy. However, somewhere in my mind heart and mind, my Entrepreneurial Spirit was telling me to get out of the restrictive corporate regime and do something of my own, something I was very passionate about, something which will help me create wealth which I could not create while I was working. One fine day I came out of the movie 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara' (You only get one life), called quit from my Corporate Life and from a Workprenure for 20 years I became a Startupreneur.
I have been living my Startup Journey for the last seven years now. My Start-up Journey started with the idea to help Corporates in Sales, the idea was good but early to its time, always kept ears to the ground and only heard the customer, what he was asking, kept changing the business proposition to the customer, failed, learned, failed again but kept moving. And today that idea has evolved into something different altogether. We are now in a phase where we feel have got that sweet spot which we had been looking for many years and we are now on our way to become a hundred million dollar company very soon.
This is my journey of Entrepreneurship in India and this journey is of Millions of Indians in India. We thrive on uncertainty and chaos but we have like you this huge population which is the Market for us. We have this capacity and capability to take risks, again like you we have immigrated to all parts of the world and established businesses there. This is India and it's Entrepreneurship Spirit which is unparalleled.
I will like to thank you all for giving me the opportunity to share my story, a story of Indian Entrepreneurship in Daily Life. Thanks again.
Happy Sunday!! Keep Moving & Smiling!!🏃🏽😊
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 shop of his own and then many shops in the same market. My Grandfather asked his brothers to join him in good faith. Everything was good till he & his brothers became old and they decided to hand over the business to the next generation.
As Business was being handed over to the next generation, the business itself was going through a change and it required some strategic decisions. Now the good faith was turning into mistrust and the Leadership required was missing. Mistrust resulted in infighting, typical of Indian family business. Brothers became foes, splitting businesses, shops resulted in huge losses. My Father was virtually on the road with no money, no education and he also now had a family to feed. However, again there was this indomitable Entrepreneurial Spirit that made him restart fresh.
Over the years, he worked hard 16 hours a day to provide the best of education to his children, Provide all the basic comforts which he could with his limited means. Being the elder son of the family, I saw all the hardships and became a responsible very early part of my life. I was giving a helping hand whenever his business required, taught me the basics of business, how to do business with integrity and good faith, always believing that one day all this hard work will pay off. In my Dad's business, I came in touch with Professionals who had acquired B school degrees and were working for Big Corporates. Soon Professional Qualification became my passport to Corporate Life.
I acquired the Professional qualification as early as possible and soon entered the corporate world. However, while working in the corporate world also, I was not seeing my work as a 9 to 5 job but my own business. My Seniors saw this Entrepreneurial Spirit of mine and grew within the ranks much faster. My Banking job gave me exposure to many businesses and traveled across the world. I was enjoying my work and 20 Years just passed in a jiffy. However, somewhere in my mind heart and mind, my Entrepreneurial Spirit was telling me to get out of the restrictive corporate regime and do something of my own, something I was very passionate about, something which will help me create wealth which I could not create while I was working. One fine day I came out of the movie 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara' (You only get one life), called quit from my Corporate Life and from a Workprenure for 20 years I became a Startupreneur.
I have been living my Startup Journey for the last seven years now. My Start-up Journey started with the idea to help Corporates in Sales, the idea was good but early to its time, always kept ears to the ground and only heard the customer, what he was asking, kept changing the business proposition to the customer, failed, learned, failed again but kept moving. And today that idea has evolved into something different altogether. We are now in a phase where we feel have got that sweet spot which we had been looking for many years and we are now on our way to become a hundred million dollar company very soon.
This is my journey of Entrepreneurship in India and this journey is of Millions of Indians in India. We thrive on uncertainty and chaos but we have like you this huge population which is the Market for us. We have this capacity and capability to take risks, again like you we have immigrated to all parts of the world and established businesses there. This is India and it's Entrepreneurship Spirit which is unparalleled.
I will like to thank you all for giving me the opportunity to share my story, a story of Indian Entrepreneurship in Daily Life. Thanks again.
Happy Sunday!! Keep Moving & Smiling!!🏃🏽😊
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