Entrepreneurship in India.
“Entrepreneurs in India” is a vivified dynamic aspiration that is no less than the overwhelming popular style signature of silver screen personalities. In today’s India, the young aspirations are no longer solely dominated by the fame and resources of film stars or national cricket players, the latest addition to the “dream career” is entrepreneurship.
If you have landed on this page through a search string i.e. entrepreneurs in India, you must have either decided to be an entrepreneur or are in search of motivation to be an entrepreneur. Whatever your motive is, both carry the common objective. In this article, we will know how to start a journey of entrepreneurship, and what attributes are a must, also we will know the Indian entrepreneurs who have successfully created small to medium size enterprises and running, for some the real success is yet to come, and for few the success has arrived.
Please note this article would not be about the fashion image of the entrepreneurs and their style, their date of birth or their spouse’s name, etc. If you are searching for that kind of content, kindly conclude here.
How to start a journey of entrepreneurship?
The word Entrepreneur is derived from a French term called “entreprendre”, meaning to start something. The pronunciation is, awn-truh-pruh-nyoh. As per the oxford dictionary, an entrepreneur is a person who sets up a business by taking financial risks to earn profit. Hope, you could understand the definition’s inherent meaning, i.e. the ability to take financial risks to start a venture to gain a meaningful result. Let us take a look at the attributes that are a must among entrepreneurs.
- As the definition says, the risk-taking ability.
- Again as the definition says, the goal-oriented.
- Management gurus say, knowledge of basic math.
- The determination, as challenges will come on the way to reach the goal.
- The decision-making ability, as a “yes” or “no” situation will come in every step.
- Should be a good communicator.
7. Last but not least, logical thinking.
Are innovative products or services a must to be an entrepreneur in India?
Many management guru claims that to be an entrepreneur in India in today’s age one has to bring product or services that are out of the box, frankly speaking, it is not necessary to be innovative in products or services to be a successful entrepreneur in India. In fact, you can bring success to traditional businesses that have been started afresh. So, be not worried about your non-tech background, you may take up traditional ventures that already exist, but, the critical aspects like demand and delivery process should be taken care of with utmost importance.
Let us take an example, suppose you have decided to pursue the entrepreneurial journey in retailing, and opened a small apparel store now that may be the just beginning as you have the plan to take the store count to 100 within a definite time period. So technically, you are an entrepreneur who wants to take a financial risk and reach a goal within a definite period of time. Hope, I made it clear, the basic is to start small and work to be big, bigger, and biggest.
Entrepreneurs in India who started small for being financially not sound.
- The first example is Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the principal founder of Paytm. Sharma started his venture in 2010 with a little money in hand and bootstrapped from family members. Today Sharma’s net worth is $ 2 Billion.
- The next example is Radhakrishan Damania, who started the D-Mart empire with just a small single store in 2002 in Mumbai, today he has 220 stores across India
- Another example is Ritesh Agarwal the founder of Oyo. He had very limited resources when he started Oyo, but his strong determination and foresight brought him a fortune. You must be amazed knowing that Oyo went up to the valuation of $10 Billion.
- We must not forget about the legendary entrepreneur in India Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani. He is considered to be a university of entrepreneurship. You surely know about him, let me write a few lines about him [I believe a thousand pages book is not enough to explain him]. Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani started his entrepreneurship with very limited resources in hand and with a small initiative, it is said that he started his business with Rs 15,000/- in 1958 (Equivalent to 15 Lacks INR today).
- Another example is Mr. Darshan Patel, who started his entrepreneurial journey with very less money in hand, gradually he builds up a big company “Paras Pharmaceuticals”. Before founding Paras Pharmaceuticals, he used to work with a pharma company. He is an exemplary entrepreneur who switched from 9 to 5 office life to full-time entrepreneurship. After selling Paras to Reckitt Benckiser for $726 million, he started Vini Cosmetics.
Women entrepreneurs in India who started small.
There are a few examples of women entrepreneurs in India who started small due to not being well off.
- Kiran Mazumder-Shaw started his entrepreneurial journey with $200 (equivalent to 4.5 lakhs today). She faced several challenges in the early years, including a lack of funding and the male-dominated nature of the industry, but she persevered and went on to build a successful company. Currently, Biocon has a market capitalization of over $10 billion.
- Suchi Mukherjee is the founder and CEO of LimeRoad, an e-commerce platform for women’s fashion. She started the company in 2012 with the aim of making fashion accessible to every woman in India. She faced several challenges in the early years, including a lack of funding and a crowded market, but she persevered and went on to build a successful company. Today, Limeroad has over 30 million users.
- Falguni Nayar is the brightest star among female entrepreneurs in India. She founded Nayyka in 2012 at the age of 50 with just Rs 20 Lakhs as a seeded fund, today she turned Nayyka into a BSE-listed company worth $4 Billion in market capitalization. Like Mr. Dharmesh Patel, Falguni Nayar is also an example who left her 9 to 5 corporate life to become a full-time entrepreneur in India.
- Richa Kar, the CEO of Zivame started her entrepreneurial journey with 30 Lakhs INR (Equal to 70 Lakhs today). Today Zivame has 5 million users.
- Another example of a female entrepreneur in India who started from scratch is Vandana Luthur. Her VLCC is a big name in the Indian cosmetics and wellness industry. She founded VLCC in 1989 with very limited resources but her dedication and hard work brought fortune to many.
Do I need to share more examples to get you started? I do not think so. If you have read so far, you have the desire to be an entrepreneur.
Can you start a business?
Yes, of course! for that what do you need to have? the answer is self-promising, strong determination not to leave halfway, and finding opportunities in all challenges. I will be happy enough if you find a matching business idea on this site, there are more than hundreds of business ideas under SME, E-Com, and Home-Based categories. Just have a look, you might find some interesting.
Steps to start a business.
If you are new in business, let me tell you the steps you should follow.
- Have an Idea first that solves a real problem, and you think that solution will have good demand where you are planning to start.
- If you are resourceful in terms of money, a blessing for you, decide your investment. Please remember, do not let your family sacrifice a lot due to your heavy investment. Ensure enough resources to maintain minimum comfortable life for them.
- You are not resourceful in terms of money! Then, the whole problem is your opportunity. Let life continue as it is, and you dive deep to bring fortune to all.
- Do not look for self-employment, look for creating opportunities for others. The logic is if you can give employment to others, there is employment for you always.
- Now, you have a business idea, validate your idea [Know how to validate a business idea].
- If you get the result positive, decide on investment…now worry the money can be arranged. [An idea that is a gem will attract money itself]. However, you should know how to unwrap the idea to others to make them understand it is a gem. Prepare a meaningful, concise presentation.
- While making the project, you should be conservative in the following aspects.
- Bootstrapping: A list of confidence, who will fund you what. Make a long list of family members and friends and ask for investment.
- Approach angel investors and connect incubator.
- When the promise list is made, consider 50% back out. So, now you have the Idea and the fund.
- Decide on company format, I propose Pvt Ltd, as investors and bankers are much more comfortable with this format.
- Start rolling, try to onboard co-founders who are resource full, and please never ever dilute more than 50% equity [Better to have your own stake minimum of 75%]
- Please, remember DEBT (BANK LOAN) is always a better option than equity dilution (in the long term, equity is expensive when your venture is a success]. Read this article to know more about Govt Scheme for startups.
11. People are a vital resource for your business. Recruit, and partner very carefully. [Hire slow, fire fast]
Conclusion.
Starting a business is not rocket science, everyone can do it, age, gender, resourcefulness, and location does not make any difference. Only, the right decision, at the right time works….please remember opportunities are all around (Read this article, “Business opportunities are not scarce”)
In case you have any other queries may contact me, I promise wholehearted support. [Read this article to know more about business project preparation]
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