The brief profiles of four of the leading entrepreneurs and corporate leaders have much to learn about the secrets of entrepreneurial success. These four personalities have made a mark and left permanent prints about their contributions in the field of ‘what it takes to build successful organizations’.
Group Shahnaz The CMD, Husain, Shahnaz
The Shahnaz Husain Group is one of the leading Indian companeis in the field of natural beauty and anti-ageing treatments. The company was founded in 1970 by Shahnaz Husain in New Delhi. The group has vertically integrated its operations over the years to encompass varied aspects of Ayurvedic care and cure. The group has activities varying from beauty training institutes, growing its own herbs to manufacturing its cosmetics line to retail to specialized treatments through its chain of over 200 beauty centres worldwide. Shahnaz Husain, the woman behind the venture has been honoured with many distinguished national and international awards, including Padma Shree, in the field of industry and trade for bringing Ayurveda to the West. Today Shahnaz’ distinguished contributions have taken India’s Ayurvedic tradition to every nook and corner of the world.
After gaining experience and training for 10 years in cosmetic therapy and cosmetic chemistry, at leading institutions of the West, such as Helena Rubinstein, Arnould Taylor, Swarzkopf, Christine Valmy, Lancome and Lean of Copenhagen, Shahnaz came back to India and studied Ayurveda and could identify a great opportunity to use it for introduction of pioneer concept ‘care and cure’. Today, she has a chain of over 400 franchise salons in India and abroad. She has always been on a look out for new challenges through latest techniques and unique innovations. Her keen interests and instincts coupled with great foresight have always led her to be ahead of time. On money she states, ‘I’m not there for the money, and people know that it is my love of the job. Money was never the purpose. People pay for our concern, they can tell we care.’
She categorically states that it is important to have a dream and to believe in the magic of your dreams. You can achieve anything in life if you have total faith in your own abilities and the courage to follow your dreams. On ethics in business, she feels, ‘Ethics and business should co-exist. In fact, you cannot last long in any business or profession without ethics.’1
Group Bharti CMD, Mittal, Bharti Sunil
Sunil Bharti Mittal is founder chairman and managing director of Bharti Enterprises. It is India’s leader in the telecom industry with more than $7.2 billion turnover. He started business as a firstgeneration entrepreneur in April 1976 at the age of 18 to make crankshafts for local bicycle manufacturers with a meagre investment of `20,000 borrowed from his father. After selling bicycle parts and yarn factories in 1980, he moved over to Mumbai. In 1981 he entered into a business of importing undertook Suzuki Motor’s portable electric-power generators from Japan. In 1984, he entered into the business of assembling push-button phones in India replacing the old fashioned, bulky rotary phones.
Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) was incorporated along with a technical tie-up with Siemens AG of Germany for manufacture of electronic push-button phones. Mittal was in the business of making fax machines, cordless phones and other telecom gear by early 1990s. In 1992, they succeeded in getting one of the four mobile phone network licences auctioned by the Government of India. Sunil Bharti’s ingenuity and foresight led him to timely identify and enter into a great opportunity in India for mobile telecom business. His plans were given shape in reality by launching mobile services under the brand name ‘AirTel’ in Delhi in 1995 by forming Bharti Cellular Limited (BCL).
Within a few years, Bharti became the first telecom company to cross the 2 million mobile subscriber mark. In November 2006, he entered into a joint venture deal with Wal-Mart to start a number of retail stores across India. On his business philosophy he states, ‘We did things never tried before in India. We are very fair to the people we work with. We wanted to prove that even with meagre capital we could do bigger things.’2
redBus of Founder Sama, Phanindra
redBus is one of Pilani Soft Labs ‘Innovations for public convenience’ formed in 2005. It facilitates ticket booking for privately run buses for outward journeys from many important cities in India. The company had a turnover of around 2.5 crores in the initial years, which increased 10 times within a period of three to four years. The founders all leapt off accelerated career paths. The three founders—Phani, Sudhakar Paspunuri and Charan Padmaraju—were classmates from BITS Pilani, and all held jobs at IT multinational companies in Bangalore. They quit to found redBus. The company was amongst the Forbes top five start-ups to be watched in 2010. The idea was born when Sama could not get bus tickets for a visit home.
Phanindra Sama is a CEO of the company from August 2006 onwards. Before plunging into a venture, he served as Senior Design Engineer with Texas Instruments between May 2004 and September 2006. Before that, he served in ST Microelectronics between May 2002 and April 2004.
redBus revenue model is based on commission from booking tickets and advertisements on the site. The company already has a tie-up with nearly 30 private bus operators in South India. Payments are accepted through all major credit and debit cards. The company is optimistic that Indians are increasingly adopting online transactions for expenses such as bookings, and the business will improve. redBus has drawn up expansion plans for cities such as Agra, Delhi and Jaipur.
Ltd Technologies Infosys Chairman, Murthy, Narayana R. N.
N. R. Narayana Murthy is a rare example of having made leading contributions in the IT industry without compromising in any way whatsoever on his ethical precepts and deep-rooted values. He was born in 1946 and his father was a schoolteacher in Kolar district, Karnataka, India. He was a brilliant student. He acquired his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from Mysore University and subsequently studied Computer Science at the IIT, Kanpur, India.
In 1981, he started his venture, Infosys, along with six friends to fructify his dream. He had his own minor apprehensions and doubts about starting a business, as he did not have any seed money. However, like other Indian women, his wife Sudha Murthy, an engineer then with the Tatas had a savings of `10,000, which came handy as initial investment. That was how his first big leap forward in his journey towards entrepreneurship began.
He introduced stock option for employees to have their greater involvement and commitment. He never gave up pursuing his dreams against all the odds that came his way, to respond to the entrepreneurial challenges. He had a great philosophy of ‘simple thinking and high living’ which he followed in letter and spirit. He has built a world-class company that is based on best management practices from around the world such as a strong corporate brand, transparency in operations, sharing wealth and best training practices. His team has offered a unique example for entrepreneurial leadership in the economy.
1. Identify and analyse the common traits in the profile of the aforementioned leading entrepreneurs.
2. What are the important traits that can be attributed to the success of each of them?
3. With whom can you relate your personality to and what traits would you like to imbibe?