Great entrepreneurs build from "nothing but their thoughts" - Ciputra
I just completed reading Sarah Lacy's Brilliant.Cocky.Crazy, a book about entrepreneurs who had nothing but thoughts to venture into an area where the rest cowed. These are the people who had little or nothing, fighting harsh environments, fighting the traditions, taboos to emerge triumphant. It is not just the victory of their thoughts and deeds. What is important is the way they have been able to light the lives of many, including some of the poorest of the poor in remotest of the areas.
I am here trying to profile some promising entrepreneurs in India trying to make a difference and these entrepreneurs are not taking the tried and tested and perhaps beaten to death, the ubiquitous and also ran The Great Indian Service Providers
India's biggest achievement since August 15th 1947, if you ask me, is still being India, still being one entity in spite of the incredible diversification - Incredible India :). Second, being telecom revolution. There has been an explosion of sorts since Mobile-phone service was launched in 1995. Today, 791,381,574 phones cover 66.36% of India's population. To put those numbers into context Indians own about 63 million TV sets and about 116 million radios. It is not just the numbers what is impressive is the effect they have had on millions of lives.
Gandhiji had said improving India is to improve her villages. Couldn't he be more right? And the medium for the change - Technology!
Mobile phones have helped widows living in rural areas to stop traveling all the way to nearest pay phones, which at times could be a few kilometers to enquire about pension checks. Or in the worst case travel all the way to the city just for the enquiries. Now, they can sit in their homes and call as many times, until their call gets answered and with this increasing the regularity in the flow of pension checks. Or acting as a catalyst in Supply Change Management and thus making a difference to the lives of struggling artisans in rural india. Yes, all these have been made possible due to dirt cheap rates and equally cheap handsets, but there are many entrepreneurs out there coming out with innovative tech and business models and thereby making it possible for many to use Mobile phones.
Rajiv Mehrotra started "micro telecom" VNL , world's first solar powered, commercially viable GSM system independent of power grid, tailor made for remote villages with ARPUs under $2. In contrast traditional GSMs need $6 ARPU to break even. Or take example of Ravi Ghate, with his SMSOne has started a "micro journalism" enabling villagers with phones to avail all the information needed to run their day-to-day lives. The information "mobile casted" ranges about the time water pipes are turned on or any news helping farmers of crop prices. It is India's own twitter service just that this time around it is not about telling the world about the expensive jewelry set you just bought or dining in that glitzy new restaurant or what clothes your favorite hero wore for an award function. SMSOne is about making a difference in people lives. And this service is not all about giving it for free NGO kind of thingy. SMSOne is run for profit! Business of making money without guilt!
Not all Mobile phone services have gone rustic; there are services like JUSTDIAL which acts as an online classifieds for all those not so comp savvy. Just call up JUSTDIAL in your city and ask for any product/service/restaurant et al information and you will be served less than 30 seconds. Started by VSS Mani, a college dropout JUSTDIAL is also an example of thinking big and going global. JUSTDIAL, is now also available in US - 1-888-JUST-DIAL and setting up call centers in US and further plans to expand across globe. Talk about giving it back!
Mobile phones have united the entire nation like no other thing. The closest that would come is the railways. Gandhiji, would surely be proud of mobile phones!
If opening up of telecom sector gave India legs to stand up to the emerging economies, Internet will give the steroids India needs to run the distance.
Unlike the basic phone service internet has not taken the explosive route it should have. Though we made rapid strides since we made the first call from a cell phone, it took us almost a decade to launch 3G services since it first took off. May be one can argue the need of the hour was to provide basic amenities. I do not think so. Internet (either via 3G or broadband), is as much a basic amenity as much is roti, kapada, makan and now Mobile phone! Just like the innovative entrepreneurship we have seen in the mobile telephony we might as well see it on the internet world, which can directly and indirectly contribute in bettering the lives of millions just like the Mobile phones have done. With 3G now in and combined that with improved broadband services - both in reliability and speeds - internet in India is a gold mine yet to be scratched.
Like China we have a huge domestic market to cater to. World's 3rd largest internet company in terms of market cap after Google and Amazon is Tencent ! And come to think of it, a company mainly famous for IM is at #3 when even it's more celebrated Silicon Valley cousins are yet to come out of a money spinning model in spite of all its fan fare. Or take alibaba for example, the B2B site which had highest IPO offering for an internet company next only to Google or Baidu - China's largest search engine. What these companies have shown us is that internet is a gold mine and with innovative schemes (as in Tencent) and a large domestic market to cater to they can beat Silicon Valley biggies in their own game.
With 3G enabled smart phones/ tablets eventually taking over traditional phones and with a huge diversified market like ours, potential internet offerings is immense. Take the matrimony sites for example - very different to the dating sites in west and these sites are not all for free and are charging customers a premium for making a match. We, being world's largest makers of film and never ending mega-serials :), there is a tremendous opportunity to go online ala Netflix/Hulu (of course if somebody can cut ice with Bollywood). And on the same lines open up music market for downloads at nominal rates (I know we have some like music india online/saregama etc but i am here talking on lines of iTunes) this could potentially curb piracy to large extent. It is not just entertainment another biggie could be in retailing akin to Amazon or even Alibaba. Sure, we do have sites like Flipkart, Myntra, and Groupon like Snapdeal and SoSastha - which was recently acquired by Groupon, but the immense potential in a huge market like ours offer is yet to be tapped. Many of these sites can co-exist and just like the numerous supermarket chains we have. The sure shot differentiator would be the business model and customer orientation they follow.
Well, it is not all about "micro development" and web sites that should take us into the future. There is a plethora of opportunities that is being thrown up with the invention of new technologies. One space we are clearly lagging behind is in the area of Gadget making. We lost it out to China. But, that still could be a good thing and instead we can concentrate on design Take the latest evolution in the computing world - the tablets. iPad has opened up a world of opportunities to be explored, and this where Rohan Shravan with this NotionInk decided to take the plunge. I being an unabashed Apple fan cannot think of buying a NotionInk. But for me NotionInk goes beyond just being a yet another tablet, it is a paradigm shift in the way we - entrepreneurs in India, are looking at future. Here was one guy who decided to stand up against the big brother pitting a product against their own, and a CEO who regularly interacts with people though NotionInk blogs updating them about product details, new features, and even taking people's help in designing logo!
A good thing about evolving technology in India is that it could well work extensively developing nations and in particular another mountain of untapped potential – Africa. Rwanda for instance sends it students to IIT for tech learning. Not Harvard, not MIT, but IIT. Companies like SMSOne and VNL is exactly what is needed for remote villages in Africa or in fact anywhere in the world with similar demographics.
We are living in an era where India is witnessing explosive growth rate, this with a market stagnating west and a growing number of young willing population ready to spend and millions still to be served, we are perhaps blessed to part of this age. It would be a criminal wastage of time, people, resource and everything if we let this opportunity go waste.
And remember one need not be a class topper or harvard or an IIT grad to become an entrepreneur. All it takes is some will and some guts. Who dares wins !
On a lighter note, Anna Hazare went on fast against corruption. Noble. But, for India to change it is the entrepreneurs and their entrepreneurship which will be the difference in lives of millions. And it is the technology that will be making it. Sp, if there is a social reformer like Anna Hazare, it would be great if they go on fast for faster internet speed ! i surely will join and so will many :)
Current Mood Inspired. Current Song Dreams on Fire - Slumdog Millionaire
Additional References
Sarah Lacy - http://www.sarahlacy.com/ and Oh! She is very beautiful too
Quote reference - Sarah Lacy's Brilliant.Cocky.Crazy Chapter on Indonesia
Mobile phones helping widows to get pension checks - Sarah Lacy's Brilliant.Cocky.Crazy Chapter on India
SMSOne on Techcrunch - http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/30/smsone-micro-local-india-news/
Time on Rajiv Mehrotra - http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1948486_1948485_1948477,00.html
I just completed reading Sarah Lacy's Brilliant.Cocky.Crazy, a book about entrepreneurs who had nothing but thoughts to venture into an area where the rest cowed. These are the people who had little or nothing, fighting harsh environments, fighting the traditions, taboos to emerge triumphant. It is not just the victory of their thoughts and deeds. What is important is the way they have been able to light the lives of many, including some of the poorest of the poor in remotest of the areas.
I am here trying to profile some promising entrepreneurs in India trying to make a difference and these entrepreneurs are not taking the tried and tested and perhaps beaten to death, the ubiquitous and also ran The Great Indian Service Providers
India's biggest achievement since August 15th 1947, if you ask me, is still being India, still being one entity in spite of the incredible diversification - Incredible India :). Second, being telecom revolution. There has been an explosion of sorts since Mobile-phone service was launched in 1995. Today, 791,381,574 phones cover 66.36% of India's population. To put those numbers into context Indians own about 63 million TV sets and about 116 million radios. It is not just the numbers what is impressive is the effect they have had on millions of lives.
Gandhiji had said improving India is to improve her villages. Couldn't he be more right? And the medium for the change - Technology!
Mobile phones have helped widows living in rural areas to stop traveling all the way to nearest pay phones, which at times could be a few kilometers to enquire about pension checks. Or in the worst case travel all the way to the city just for the enquiries. Now, they can sit in their homes and call as many times, until their call gets answered and with this increasing the regularity in the flow of pension checks. Or acting as a catalyst in Supply Change Management and thus making a difference to the lives of struggling artisans in rural india. Yes, all these have been made possible due to dirt cheap rates and equally cheap handsets, but there are many entrepreneurs out there coming out with innovative tech and business models and thereby making it possible for many to use Mobile phones.
Rajiv Mehrotra started "micro telecom" VNL , world's first solar powered, commercially viable GSM system independent of power grid, tailor made for remote villages with ARPUs under $2. In contrast traditional GSMs need $6 ARPU to break even. Or take example of Ravi Ghate, with his SMSOne has started a "micro journalism" enabling villagers with phones to avail all the information needed to run their day-to-day lives. The information "mobile casted" ranges about the time water pipes are turned on or any news helping farmers of crop prices. It is India's own twitter service just that this time around it is not about telling the world about the expensive jewelry set you just bought or dining in that glitzy new restaurant or what clothes your favorite hero wore for an award function. SMSOne is about making a difference in people lives. And this service is not all about giving it for free NGO kind of thingy. SMSOne is run for profit! Business of making money without guilt!
Not all Mobile phone services have gone rustic; there are services like JUSTDIAL which acts as an online classifieds for all those not so comp savvy. Just call up JUSTDIAL in your city and ask for any product/service/restaurant et al information and you will be served less than 30 seconds. Started by VSS Mani, a college dropout JUSTDIAL is also an example of thinking big and going global. JUSTDIAL, is now also available in US - 1-888-JUST-DIAL and setting up call centers in US and further plans to expand across globe. Talk about giving it back!
Mobile phones have united the entire nation like no other thing. The closest that would come is the railways. Gandhiji, would surely be proud of mobile phones!
If opening up of telecom sector gave India legs to stand up to the emerging economies, Internet will give the steroids India needs to run the distance.
Unlike the basic phone service internet has not taken the explosive route it should have. Though we made rapid strides since we made the first call from a cell phone, it took us almost a decade to launch 3G services since it first took off. May be one can argue the need of the hour was to provide basic amenities. I do not think so. Internet (either via 3G or broadband), is as much a basic amenity as much is roti, kapada, makan and now Mobile phone! Just like the innovative entrepreneurship we have seen in the mobile telephony we might as well see it on the internet world, which can directly and indirectly contribute in bettering the lives of millions just like the Mobile phones have done. With 3G now in and combined that with improved broadband services - both in reliability and speeds - internet in India is a gold mine yet to be scratched.
Like China we have a huge domestic market to cater to. World's 3rd largest internet company in terms of market cap after Google and Amazon is Tencent ! And come to think of it, a company mainly famous for IM is at #3 when even it's more celebrated Silicon Valley cousins are yet to come out of a money spinning model in spite of all its fan fare. Or take alibaba for example, the B2B site which had highest IPO offering for an internet company next only to Google or Baidu - China's largest search engine. What these companies have shown us is that internet is a gold mine and with innovative schemes (as in Tencent) and a large domestic market to cater to they can beat Silicon Valley biggies in their own game.
With 3G enabled smart phones/ tablets eventually taking over traditional phones and with a huge diversified market like ours, potential internet offerings is immense. Take the matrimony sites for example - very different to the dating sites in west and these sites are not all for free and are charging customers a premium for making a match. We, being world's largest makers of film and never ending mega-serials :), there is a tremendous opportunity to go online ala Netflix/Hulu (of course if somebody can cut ice with Bollywood). And on the same lines open up music market for downloads at nominal rates (I know we have some like music india online/saregama etc but i am here talking on lines of iTunes) this could potentially curb piracy to large extent. It is not just entertainment another biggie could be in retailing akin to Amazon or even Alibaba. Sure, we do have sites like Flipkart, Myntra, and Groupon like Snapdeal and SoSastha - which was recently acquired by Groupon, but the immense potential in a huge market like ours offer is yet to be tapped. Many of these sites can co-exist and just like the numerous supermarket chains we have. The sure shot differentiator would be the business model and customer orientation they follow.
Well, it is not all about "micro development" and web sites that should take us into the future. There is a plethora of opportunities that is being thrown up with the invention of new technologies. One space we are clearly lagging behind is in the area of Gadget making. We lost it out to China. But, that still could be a good thing and instead we can concentrate on design Take the latest evolution in the computing world - the tablets. iPad has opened up a world of opportunities to be explored, and this where Rohan Shravan with this NotionInk decided to take the plunge. I being an unabashed Apple fan cannot think of buying a NotionInk. But for me NotionInk goes beyond just being a yet another tablet, it is a paradigm shift in the way we - entrepreneurs in India, are looking at future. Here was one guy who decided to stand up against the big brother pitting a product against their own, and a CEO who regularly interacts with people though NotionInk blogs updating them about product details, new features, and even taking people's help in designing logo!
A good thing about evolving technology in India is that it could well work extensively developing nations and in particular another mountain of untapped potential – Africa. Rwanda for instance sends it students to IIT for tech learning. Not Harvard, not MIT, but IIT. Companies like SMSOne and VNL is exactly what is needed for remote villages in Africa or in fact anywhere in the world with similar demographics.
We are living in an era where India is witnessing explosive growth rate, this with a market stagnating west and a growing number of young willing population ready to spend and millions still to be served, we are perhaps blessed to part of this age. It would be a criminal wastage of time, people, resource and everything if we let this opportunity go waste.
And remember one need not be a class topper or harvard or an IIT grad to become an entrepreneur. All it takes is some will and some guts. Who dares wins !
On a lighter note, Anna Hazare went on fast against corruption. Noble. But, for India to change it is the entrepreneurs and their entrepreneurship which will be the difference in lives of millions. And it is the technology that will be making it. Sp, if there is a social reformer like Anna Hazare, it would be great if they go on fast for faster internet speed ! i surely will join and so will many :)
Current Mood Inspired. Current Song Dreams on Fire - Slumdog Millionaire
Additional References
Sarah Lacy - http://www.sarahlacy.com/ and Oh! She is very beautiful too
Quote reference - Sarah Lacy's Brilliant.Cocky.Crazy Chapter on Indonesia
Mobile phones helping widows to get pension checks - Sarah Lacy's Brilliant.Cocky.Crazy Chapter on India
SMSOne on Techcrunch - http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/30/smsone-micro-local-india-news/
Time on Rajiv Mehrotra - http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1948486_1948485_1948477,00.html