Business
What made these Indian entrepreneurs corporate giants?
By
By Shilpa Raina New Delhi, April 12
In early 2000, Ratan Tata,
now the Tata Group's chairman emeritus, told journalists that he wanted
to create an affordable four-wheeler for two-wheeler users who couldn't
afford a car. That vision was developed into the Tata Nano.
And
when the Nano plant got entangled in a political quagmire in Singur in
West Bengal over land acquisition issues and production stopped, Tata
vision didn't blur. He moved lock, stock and barrel from Singur to
Sanand in Gujarat and resumed production.
"Challenge the
unchallenged. There is always scope of addressing something that seems
impossible and achieving surprising results," Tata says in a new book.
The
Singur incident points to the kinds of risks entrepreneurs have to
take when faced with unexpected resistance and opposition. And it is
their vision that has accelerated India's economy and offered solutions
to simplify our stressful life.
These enriching and inspirational
journeys of India's 20 leading corporate giants are woven together in a
new book, "Mantras For Success: India's Greatest CEOs Tell You How to
Win" (Maven; Rs. 500), that encompasses narratives of those who took
over family business and those who represent the business of modern
ideas.
Penned by adman and corporate writer Suhel Seth with Sunny
Sen, each chapter ends with the featured businessman sharing his
mantra for success.
Another interesting success story is that of
Anand Mahindra, chairman and managing director of the $16.5 billion,
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) Limited, who was also a part of
Fortune's list of 50 Greatest Leaders in 2014.
One of his happiest moments was when Prime Minister
Narendra Modi's grey Scorpio SUV entered Rashtrapati Bhavan for his swearing-in ceremony on May 26, 2014.
The
Scorpio is perhaps the biggest success stories of the group, but before
1997, when Anand decided to set up a factory to ingeniously develop an
SUV, the group was mainly known for being the maker of rural and
agricultural vehicles.
He changed the rules of the game by changing with the times.
"If
you want to lead a large, complex and multi-business organisation, you
have to know when and how to let go, and empower others. Empowerment is
the algebraic outcome of curiosity and humility," Mahindra says in the
book.
Similarly, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairperson and managing
director of leading bio-pharmaceutical company Biocon, has an appetite
for taking risks, says the book.
In 2002, Nilima Rovshen was
diagnosed with breast cancer. For six years, Mazumdar-Shaw took care of
her; they had been best friends for decades. Rovshen would recover, but
the cancerian pincers would always pull her back - notwithstanding the
number of chemotherapy and radiation sessions she underwent. Finally,
cancer did get the better of her in 2008.
Perhaps it was
Rovshen's struggle that spurred Mazundar-Shaw's quest to make a
home-grown cancer-treating drug. Doing so wasn't easy when all the
international pharma companies were pumping in billions of dollars in
research to make the next wonder drug. But she rose to the challenge,
taking up a project to create a Made-in-India drug against cancer in
2007.
"Driving sustainable growth through building continuous
competitive advantage is a strategy I have encouraged in the
organisation," she says in the book.
It is these incredible journeys the book charts and throws light on what went behind building these corporate giants.
"The
choice of selecting these 20 people was entirely mine and I have tried
to incorporate things like what has been said about them earlier and
what background information can be given about them to put these stories
in context," Seth told IANS at the launch of the book.
These stories would invariably inspire young entrepreneurs with a dream in their eyes to make it big.
(Shilpa Raina can be contacted at [email protected])