A Dubai Born Brand Going Global

Posted on January 8, 2010 by Vikas Pota

It’s not often that you witness history, but last night, I observed just that. I’m in Dubai at the moment – a place I must say is not the most endearing for the simple reason that it’s all quite new and sparkly – despite the emirate of Abu Dhabi having to step in to help it honour its financial obligations.

There’s approx 1.5million people residing here, of which the local community constitute approx 15%. The vast majority seem to be from the southern states of India, who work in all capacities from maids & servants, professionals in corporates, and are also major investors with large enterprises in Dubai – all of whom, which have enabled its skyline to be as extravagant as it is.

It’s for this reason that I was truly taken aback to learn that the Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum went to his first ever non Emirati (local population) event in Dubai, and he couldn’t have picked a better one. The event marked the 50th anniversary of an Indian family having invested in Dubai, whose company – GEMS – is a world beater in the education sector.

What’s remarkable about this family and firm is the way they’ve taken the best of being Indian and have fused it with Arabic culture, to set it on it’s path to global success. As an internationalist, I’m going to use this post to not only congratulate the Varkey’s, but importantly to applaud the Sheikh for taking this small, but important step in strengthening Dubai’s ties with the future.

As for GEMS, having looked at them closely, I’m convinced they’re at the cusp of truly becoming a global brand. They may have a 100 schools and educate 100,000 kids, but the landscape is so, so wide for them to paint. Yes, they’ll go through the pain of becoming a business that moves beyond the identity of its owner; yes, they’ll also make mistakes – but having witnessed their flair, ambition, and drive to recruit the best talent, it’d be hard to bet against them becoming “the” first global private education brand.

In Dubai, we may have just seen the future…

The traits of entrepreneurship

Posted on September 3, 2009 by Vikas Pota

Having completed writing a book about some of India’s biggest and most successful entrepreneurs, I was asked about what differentiates them from the rest, which isn’t as straight forward to answer as it seems.

However, having attended an event yesterday evening hosted by my friend Deepak Haria at Deloitte for the promotion of TATA Jagriti, which is an Indian NGO that literally takes a trainload of enterprising Indian youth across India (on a yatra / journey) to expose them to subjects of importance to India’s development and introduces them to entrepreneurial thinking, I’m pleased to say that this question was posed, albeit in a different way, to Mr Gopalakrishnan who is a Board Director of TATA (http://www.tata.com/aboutus/articles/inside.aspx?artid=vyj45RCRud4=).

He was asked whether the Jagriti Sansthan – the NGO (http://www.jagritiyatra.com) – equips the participants in political skills that help them overcome political problems, which the TATA man rebutted by explaining that a programme like the yatra doesn’t aspire in providing such training, as in his mind, entrepreneurs – by definition – find ways, by themselves, to overcome obstacles and achieve success.

Interesting, I thought.

Let me know what you think characterises a successful entrepreneur. Please leave your comments on this post.

Indian Entrepreneurship – Lakshmi Mittal, the trailblazer

Posted on July 9, 2008 by Vikas Pota

Was invited to the Emerging India awards yesterday evening with global icon Lakshmi Mittal in attendance and Trade Ministers from India and the UK -Kamal Nath and John Hutton playing second fiddle to an audience comprising some of India’s best SME’s, who had flown all the way to this prestigious awards ceremony that celebrates India’s talent in nurturing entrepreneurs.

Lakshmi Mittal, in his keynote address, spoke of his challenges when he was first starting out in the steel business. He recollected how the production of his first tonne of steel brought a profound sense of satisfaction that even his 110 million tonne Arcelor Mittal doesn’t match.

In his address, Kamal Nath highlighted: “…with the internet and a Fed-ex account, SME’s are able to compete with some of the world’s biggest companies.” As the promoter of a SME myself, I couldn’t agree more.

India’s banker – KV Kamath, CEO of ICICI Bank paid a tribute to Indian entrepreneurship and highlighted that the number of SME’s applying for an award had gone through the roof. With 20,000 applications made in the first year, this year, a staggering 300,000 Indian SME’s had applied in 10 categories!!

We’ve all heard key statistics that make Indians tick – for example, India has a population of over 1 billion, a middle class bigger than the entire population of America, or more engineering graduates than all European countries put together etc, but the one fact about India that knocks me off my feet everytime is that India is a young country. Simply put, there are more young people in India than China and almost everywhere else.

I’ve posted a blog previously in which I explain that certain traits are built into our DNA. I believe that entrepreneurship is exactly one of those traits that is built into Indian people. I can confidently predict that the trend of Indian entrepreneurs taking on and winning global boardroom battles, like Lakshmi Mittal, has only just begun.

Enterprise at Downing St

Posted on June 25, 2008 by Vikas Pota

It was an honour to be invited by the Prime Minister and Mrs Brown to a reception at Downing St for entrepreneurs a few days back.

The reception coincided with the launch of a new strategy for enterprise and a set of counterproposals by the Conservatives. From my experience of starting businesses in the UK and in India, I have to say that the UK is way ahead and easier to navigate for the budding entrepreneur. We’re always going to have issues, and we’re always going to feel that the Government isn’t doing as much as it can to reduce red tape. However, if one takes an objective look (at our bottom line), our businesses are growing.

In conversation with the PM, many of us expressed that we faced the real danger of talking ourselves into a recession. Despite the negative media that the economy is receiving, the overwhelming consensus was that our businesses were growing, orders and contracts were being sealed and in general terms, we were all confident of weathering any economic downturn that we may face.

However, what I found very interesting was that everyone I spoke with at the reception said that they already had some kind of relationship with a high growth economy like India or China. Whether it was the lady who specialises in glass architecture, or the guy from Wales who’s set up an incubator for hi-tech companies in Wales.

Looks like the Government’s fear that medium sized businesses weren’t aware of the opportunities of India and other high growth economies presented, is misplaced. Raising awareness is not the problem. What they do need to worry about are the next steps…

Companies like mine specialise in helping British companies crack India. www.saffronchase.com

Entrepreneurship & families

Posted on June 20, 2008 by Vikas Pota

Amongst the vast number of claims that India and Indians make, the one that stands out for me is that India is truly the land of entrepreneurship. There are several examples of individuals who have gone from rags to riches in one generation.

For this reason, I was delighted to have attended the Ernst & Young Entrepreneuship Awards in London last week and found that in their main category of Master Entrepreneur, two out of five finalists were Indian. One of them, Dr Lalvani, of Wellman fame, went on to be specially recognised for his successes.

Both Indian finalists – Dr Lalvani and Rami Ranger place a huge emphasis on family support. It’s not unusual for winners to namecheck their family in their speeches, but Dr Lalvani’s was exceptional as he, in his very humble manner, made a simple point – he thanked his wife and family for allowing him to work every hour that he could.

I’m not claiming that Indian’s have a monopoly on family support – but as part of our cultural upbringing, families play a huge role in defining identities.