Rashmi Bansal is an IIM Ahmedabad Alumna who has produced many bestsellers in the genre of self-help and business stories over the years. This book ‘Connect The Dots’ was written by her to capture the attention of the growing entrepreneurs of India and implore them to dream big and follow the path of their instincts as everything would eventually make sense down the road, just like connecting the dots.
This book is a compilation of the twenty stories of Indian entrepreneurs who didn’t have an MBA degree to make it big in the world of business. Shortly and compellingly, Rashmi Bansal was able to capture the journey of these homegrown entrepreneurs who defied all odds at a time when the economy of India was just opening up.
The first story is about Prem Ganapathy who immigrated from Chennai to Bombay, ‘The City of Dreams’ where he set up the ‘Dosa Plaza‘ which had a wide dosa variety on offer. He started with a roadside shack with money borrowed from his relatives and now he has multiples ventures across the country and abroad.
Takeaway: The moral of this story is about persistence and how he insists on building relationships which can take you to the next level in personal and professional life.
The next person is Kunwer Sachdev who is the founder of Su-Kam, inverter solutions. This is a homegrown company which has made inverter solutions across the country. He and his team have done in-house R&D and brought the sales up to 500 crores. He says that people often end up taking jobs and remain satisfied with them because they do not know their capabilities. He implores you to try out new things and gain confidence along the way.
Takeaway: The moral from this story is to keep inventing your ways and never be complacent with where you are right now.
The next person is Ganesh Ram of the Veta (Vivekananda English Training Academy) which is started as simple tuition grew to become India’s most sought after training academy for Spoken English. Starting random businesses by just copying them will not yield fruitful results. You need to continuously innovate for you to stand out in the market.
Takeaway: The moral of the story is to believe that your idea is different and go after it without any inhibitions.
Sunita Ramnathkar of Fem Care Pharma has set up her face bleach products for women in India along with her brother who was an IIT Graduate. After giving birth to her child, she ventured into doing something that satisfies a need and discovered that there were not many face bleach products in India. Many were smuggled to evade the exorbitant prices in the market then. With the help of their dad, they set a factory and it turned into a flourishing business. Finally, Dabur bought the division from them. Now she is venturing into new businesses.
Takeaway: She asks to start a business by discovering the wants of the people. Get educated in that field and go after it with all your might.
M Mahadevan of Oriental Cuisines also stresses the impact that business is always about people. It is the relationship held between the people that will decide the outcome of a successful business. He recruited people who serve him well in daily life. Income – Expenditure = Profit that is the simple formula that drives everything in this world. He implores to keep the input costs at 30%-35% in the restaurant business so that the profit margins are good. He started as an assistant professor in accounting and later became a hotelier.
Takeaway: Know the in and outs of the business, the costs that come in and the output the goes out. In the end, the balance of that is what matters the most. Never let down your guard and never be complacent!
HR Gaikwad of BVG Group (Bharat Vikas Group) provides skilled labour and machinery for the maintenance and upkeep of industries and major establishments in India including the Rashtrapati Bhavan! He came from humble beginnings and is now a multi-crore establishment.
Takeaway: His simple motto is that if you do good work, more work will come in. Good work means more clients and thus your business can grow further.
Rajiv Ramchandani was a graduate in Microbiology but now is CEO of the Tantra tees, which made desi slogans printed on the tees and found a market on that.
Takeaway: He stresses that ‘Doing your own thing is better than sex’ and to explore all creative options in business till you strike gold. Doing your things makes you peace with yourself and you become connected with your inner self. Our mission in life is not to meet targets, it is to stay happy.
Suresh Kamath of the Laser Soft Info-systems, stress on one fact that, if you can deliver good work at all times, then you need not work about money or new work. That will come as a by-product of the work that you have delivered. He also stresses on the fact to give everyone a chance to pursue what they are passionate about. People saying that the business needs to be done in unethical ways is just not true.
Takeaway: Have the motivation to do something for your country and your people and whatever money you may have, even if you do not have the happiness, then it is of no use.
Raghu Khanna, of Cashurdrive, offered taxi drivers to become driving billboards and became an instant hit in the Indian market. An arrogant outspoken kid has turned out a simple idea into a business.
Takeaway: Deep in his heart, he knows that if he put his mind into it, he will achieve it. And the earlier you start working on your idea, the better chances you have on making it fruitful.
R Sriram is the founder of the Crosswords franchise. Which sells books and other items which the customers can spend a lot of time interacting with before they wish to purchase. Growing up, he had a keen interest in reading and even took up a job for a long time at the book shop to not just to sell books but to interact and found pleasure in giving suggestions to the customers. This led to him making many contacts in his industry and outside and thereby laying the foundation for his future business.
Takeaway: You need to care deeply about the things you love and sometimes people will discourage you for that. You need to risk more than others think as safe and finally, you should find joy in whatever you may be setting out to do in life. By the words of Victor Frankl, ‘Man’s search for meaning is really what provides purpose in life’.
Saurabh Vayas and Gaurav Rathore were students who were interested in politics and used to spend a lot of time discussing the same. They wanted to replicate the model the American counterparts were making use of the technology during the election times. To get the data on voters sentiments and other things, to help the contesting parties decide upon which areas they need to concentrate on.
Takeaway: They imply, that age is no bar and experience is no bar, you just need to have the mindset to learn and have fun improvising. If you have a goal, believe in it. Otherwise just don’t do it.
Satyajit Singh of the Shakti Sudha Industries has transformed the lives of the Bihar Makhana (Lotus seeds/Fox Nuts) farmers. It is a white tasteless, odourless fruit which is grown in shallow lakes. Seeing the unfair prices and the role of middlemen in the industry he stepped in and transformed the Makhana agriculture and industry. He also spearheaded ways in which the Makhana can be made into new products and in colourful packagings.
Takeaway: He says that, if you understand what you’re doing and if you plan it in detail, then you surely be successful.
Sunil Bhu of the Flanders Diary has till now been delivering world-class cheese varieties to the Indian market. He started making small cheese balls and later with the help of his Irish friends and contacts learned more about the business and brought it to India. Nowadays, many Indian bakers and hotels depend on their products for everyday function. If you get the opportunity to pursue what you’re meant to do, go for it! Start your legacy!
Takeaway: One step at a time if possible. Be aware of your limitations and focus on those things that you’re good at. And don’t count the bucks too often, focus on your craft and the money will follow.
Chetan Mani of the Reva Electric car company was deeply passionate about electronics. He has built the Reva electric car company in India after learning about the technology from foreign. If there is a problem that he is facing, then he would sleep on it. In the morning, he would see the problem from a different perspective which makes all the difference.
Takeaway: He says that you need to have a strong belief in your ideas before you take up the mission. What may seem as setback will be the push that you might need to see or try something new and to stretch your limits?
Mahina Mehra of Haathi Chap is a paper entrepreneur. She always wanted to recycle stuff. And she became a paper manufacturer. She made exports to Germany with the help of her German friends. She sources the paper from the local small manufactures and this has helped them to flourish too. She started this venture at the age of 24 and now has a turn over of crores. But the best PR for her company is not from making the ordinary paper, but a form of paper made from elephant dung. That has become an innovative way to promote the business and bring in about 10% of the total revenue.
Takeaway: If you have an idea just follow through it. India is a good place for entrepreneurs. You must be adaptable if you’re planning on working at rural level. If she can do it, anyone can.
Samar Gupta of the Trikaya Agriculture was a third-generation Bombayite and his father’s name was Ravi Gupta. They were successful in their ad agency company. But Ravi Gupta channelled his money from the ad agency and bought a piece of land in the outskirts of the town. He started planting a certain type of vegetables such as lettuce and broccoli which was a rarity in the Indian market at that time. And the first buyers were from five-star hotels. The workers were lazy and they stopped working hard since the boss was soft and since there wasn’t a constant vigilance due to the distance. After the death of the Ravi Gupta, Samar, his son, took over. He was a tough boss and took tough decisions and thereby got more output out of his land and by then new markets for the exotic vegetables opened up. One of their lettuce clients were McDonald’s when they first entered India. Now the firm is worth seven crores and Mr Samar Gupta is always travelling and always exploring finding new exotic varieties of vegetables that could be grown in India.
Takeaway: If you’re planning to get into farming, you shouldn’t be in a hurry, it takes a long time to breakeven. You’ll be learning and will encounter a lot of problems. Challenges and doing new things are the ones that keep him going all day. And remember, as you sow, so that shall you reap. It is true for farming as much as pretty much everything in life.
Abijith Bansod of ABD design has designed some of the iconic design known to Indians such as the Titan Heritage and Raga collections, the IPL Trophy and much more. He was always passionate in building with different materials and when he got into NID early on, he was exposed to a wide range of designs languages ranging from textile, graphic etc and that has helped him form his unique style of designing. Every type of design had a western influence to it in NID, but he wanted to create things which had an Indian essence to it. And thereby, the products that he created through his journey reflected the history of India and the iconic traditional designs had a rebirth through the products that he created.
Takeaway: Many designers make impactful designs, but if you want to reach out to the masses you need to know the business of design and for that, you may need to seek help from someone who can sell your products or designs.
Paresh Mokashi of Harishchandrachi Factory had directed a film based on the story of Dadasaheb Falke and that became India’s official entry to the Oscars in 2009. He started off doing acting jobs but none of them clicked. He was asked to present the screenplays he had written to one of the directors and upon reading it, the director was pleased with the story. He directed many plays since then and has become a success story.
Takeaway: He implores to not look for anyone’s advice. Have the audacity to follow your dreams and only listen to yourself.
Krishna Reddy of the Prince Dance Group from Odisha was from a poor family and after completing high basic education, he set out to build a dance group. The members of the dance group were daily wagers who were promised of getting better recognition. Cash strapped and broken logistics support kept on pestering them, but in the end, they won India’s Got Talent reality show making all their hard work pay off.
Takeaway: He says that only your hard work will take you to places and not to depend on anyone else to show you the way. Money is not the hurdle, to work hard and to do it with your heart is the most important thing to do.
Kalyan Varma became a Wildlife Photographer after leaving a high profile work at Yahoo. What started as a hobby became his life. He spends days, months in the forest to get the right picture. He also says that knowing the technicalities isn’t enough, you should be willing to go out of your comfort zone and live with the wildlife to get results. We can make our lives the way we want it to be.
Takeaway: You have to find what you love and keep working on it, even if there is no pay. He worked three years without pay to get his foot in the door. And finally, you should be able to ‘think different’ no matter which field you might be in. If your style is completely different, either you will fail miserably or it will take you to the next level.
Overall, it was a ride reading this book. So many different perspectives are displayed and it underlines the fact that there is never a single way to run a business. How you are as a person plays a vital role in entrepreneurship and you may have your own style of running a business. That may not be appreciated by others when you are starting off. But it may be the only reason why you may stand out in the market and become an industry leader.
My Part Said. 