Entrepreneurship Jan 2012 by abhay gupta

PRESIDENTâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NOTE

For Entrepreneurs, by Entrepreneur Since I set up a career counselling company after passing my electronics-engineering course, I have personally set up more than thirty businesses. Through Franchise India and my own consulting efforts, I have helped hundreds of entrepreneurs set up enterprises. This experience has built my conviction that the big differentiator that makes the entrepreneur is mind-set. The willingness to take on responsibility and do something about it is what makes an entrepreneur. Promoting entrepreneurs has always been the DNA of Franchise India. It is in our Vision. We have even taken up a concrete objective to fulfill this Vision. We have initiated a project to create one million empowered entrepreneurs (1MEE). Imagine the change that can be brought about by one million empowered and enlightened people willing to take charge! The Small Medium Entrepreneur magazine is a small step towards fulfilling the 1MEE project. Towards this end, we would like Small Medium Entrepreneur to acquire two aspects. The first is to emerge as an informed friend to the Indian entrepreneur. The second role we would like the magazine to play is to build a community that will learn from each other and together, and develop a voice that can call for policy that is favourable to small enterprises. Very often the policy required is not special concessions but the need to create and maintain a level playing ground. We recognise that the Indian entrepreneur is emerging as a confident, forward looking community eager to take up all opportunity for growth. This confidence is good for business, the economy and the country as a whole. We want to be partners with the entrepreneur community in this endeavour. Please see this Small Medium Entrepreneur as a contribution to this movement. Please welcome it in your office, your home and your life. Thank you,

GAURAV MARYA Group President, Franchise India Holdings Ltd

EDITOR’S NOTE

Junoon, Jugaad & Luck O ver the last eight years, I have been interacting with Small & Medium Entrepreneurs across consumer services and retail verticals and it is remarkable how business ownership has changed its meaning. Firstly, Entrepreneurship, as it should be, has taken India in a strong grip. People across various domains from professionals to those in family business and women entrepreneurs have initiated their start-up ideas with vengeance. But which of these businesses are going to write history? In our quest to identify the most successful Small Businesses of the present year, we dug deep in the market and gathered more than 1,000 business concepts, one better than the next and shortlisting 100 best small business for the year 2011 was a momentous task. The Top 100 businesses were

EDITORIAL Editor-In-Chief: Ritu Marya Assistant Editor & Issue In-charge: Punita Sabharwal Kapoor Deputy Editor: Vanita Akhaury Copy Editor: Sapna Bhardwaj Sr Content Writer: Leena Guha Roy DESIGN STUDIO Design Head: Dinesh Pandey Asst Art Director: Shivaji Sengupta Graphic Designer: Prahlad Yadav FRANCHISE INDIA Publisher: Sachin Marya Founder & Group President: Gaurav Marya BRAND ADVERTISING Ashita Marya, M: 9810092379 Prakash Iyer, M: 93239 68158 Bhavesh Kothari, M: 9320033202 D. Arun, M: 9176202286

FRANCHISE & BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY ADVERTISING Sanjay Bhat, M: 9310516517 Priti Menon, M: 9320033102 Mahantesh M.Patil, M: 9343930200 S.A. Manikandan, M: 9344009420 ENTREPRENEURINDIA.COM ADVERTISING Susheela Negi, M: 9311099950 Delhi Office Stage 411-415, 4th Floor, Charmwood Plaza, Eros Garden, Charmwood Village, Surajkund Road, Faridabad - 122009 Tel: 0129-4098888 Fax: 0129-4098840 Mumbai Office D Wing; 413-416, 4th Floor Crystal Plaza, New Link Road,

then finalised on the basis of exclusivity, market leadership and growth. Above all, our entire thrust in finding the entrepreneurs listed in the forthcoming pages has been to highlight the Indian entrepreneur’s junoon. Junoon i.e. passion which actually drives all these entrepreneurs who share their insights on grabbing a market share in an unexplored territory. These entrepreneurs form parts of various industries which seem promising. I hope you will enjoy reading our current issue as much as we were enlightened in finding the best small businesses for you. As we contemplated the cover of the magazine; we wanted someone iconic who had done the full cycle from initiating a start-up and creating an empire. The search began. To give a new perspective as to what lies ahead, we interviewed the new generation of the business to know about the growth. Our cover

Andheri West, Mumbai - 400053 Tel: 022-40685555 Fax: 022-40685551 Bengaluru Office Unit 314, Level 3, Second Floor, #7, Prestige Centre Point, Cunningham Road, Bangalore-560 052 Tel: 080 49035555 Fax: 080 49035511 Chennai Office 148/1, Habibulla Road, T. Nagar, Chennai-600017 Tel: 044-42124104 Fax: 044-42124103 Hyderabad Office Regus, Level 1 Midtown, Road no. 1, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad - 500034 Mobile No: 09392865423

story on Page 38 highlights how a small footwear shop in Colaba has today become a leading footwear giant. Metro Shoes is a great example of starting small, then reaching a mark of 100 crores and then reaching the present position of 275 crore. The story will act as an inspiration to our Top 100 small businesses on how to take their business forward. Also awaits inside, a fresh start to this inaugural issue to show the new breed of entrepreneurs whose various success strategies have been shared by some of our leading columnists. Here’s a toast to Entrepreneurship!

RITU MARYA Editor-in-Chief

Kolkata Office Constantia Building Level 6, Room No. 626, 11, Dr. U N Bhramchari Road, Kolkata - 17. Mobile No: 09331411327 Dubai Office 802, Business Village - B, Deira, P.O. Box 22554, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Tel: +971 4 2368568 Fax: +971 42368677 Subscription/circulation enquiries Monika Rawat, Tel: 0129- 4183604 Mobile: 09310978211 subscribe@franchiseindia.com HOW TO REACH US Small Medium Entrepreneur 411-415, 4th Floor, Charmwood Plaza, Eros Garden, Charmwood Village, Surajkund Road, Faridabad - 121009. Email: info@entrepreneurindia.org

Copyright © 2011 - 2012, Small Medium Entrepreneur. All rights reserved throughout the world. Owned, Published and Printed by Sachin Marya, Printed at Thomson Press Ltd 18/35, Delhi - Mathura Rd, Faridabad, Published from 411-415, 4th Floor, Charmwood Plaza, Eros Garden, Charmwood Village, Surajkund Road, Faridabad – 121009. Editor Ms. Ritu Marya CAUTION. ADVICE. RESEARCH.: Articles and advertisements in Small Medium Entrepreneur are purely for information purposes and represent neither endorsement nor recommendation of such companies by the Publisher, Editor and their agents. Readers must always take relevant professional advice before entering into any contract with companies or persons described in the magazine’s articles and advertisements. The publisher and the editor cannot accept any responsibility for transactions between readers, advertisers and companies appearing in Small Medium Entrepreneur. While reasonable care is taken to insure the accuracy of information in Small Medium Entrepreneur at the time of preparing for the press, no responsibility can be taken for any error that may have crept up inadvertently, or consequences of action based on any material contained herein. The views expressed in Small Medium Entrepreneur do not necessarily reflect those of the Publisher or the Editor. We welcome unsolicited material for consideration, however Small Medium Entrepreneur accepts no responsibility for them. Materials shall not be returned unless accompanied by adequate postage and a self- addressed envelope. The Publisher and the Editor will not be responsible for any loss or damage.

CONTENTS

O N, J U G A A O N D JU

D C LU

January 2012 | Vol 1 | No 1

K Entrepreneurship, as it should be, has taken India in a strong grip. In this special feature, we profile the leading entrepreneurs in small businesses which are presently below ` 100 crore, but have the calibre to reach ten times the money they are making presently, with their junoon, jugaad and luck. The Top 100 businesses have been finalised on the basis of exclusivity, market leadership and growth.

46 8

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

CONTENTS GUEST COLUMN 22 | Time Management Getting More Done In Less Time Tony White To achieve more, one must utilise time well. Distributing and structuring tasks and preparing beforehand will go a long way in enhancing productivity.

30 | Legal Follow the Rules of the Game SHOE CZARINA: Doing what she likes best

26 Cover Story

Metro Shoes

Putting her best foot forward Farah Malik Bhanji, Executive Director, Metro Shoes, always fantasised as a child how much fun it is, to be at a shop selling shoes. Retail is in the blood of this family which runs a three generation old company, synonymous with the culture of Mumbai.

112 | Books | Brush-up What’s our return on luck?

40 | Start-Up | Resource Hire Wisely to KickStart Your Business

GREAT BY CHOICE

Learn the wise tricks what to avoid EHIRUH \RX KLUH \RXU ÀUVW HPSOR\HH

Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck – Why some thrive despite them all by Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen. Review by JOSEPH MATHAI

High Returns on Reading GET TO THE TOP The ten rules for social success by Suhel Seth Review by GAURAV MARYA

34 | Strategy | Growth Why Innovate? The development and evolvement of innovation in the global front has led to this ten letter word becoming the axis of every successful business. 10

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

Seema Jhingan The rise of the SME sector in India can be attributed to the entrepreneurial spirit of the Indian educated masses. The Government too, has been promoting it through various regulatory measures.

44 | Ideas How to Validate your Ideas Mukund Mohan Keep your think tank open and keep probing to generate ideas that could formulate into a good business policy.

REGULARS

108 | Meeting | Hotel THE CLARIDGES

A Business Tower

SME features a collection of innovative luxury products.

TRENDS & UPDATES AS HE SAID IT

FUNDING

Karisma Kapoor turns investor with babyoye.com

MY SON IS NOW AN ‘ENTREPRENEUR’. THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE CALLED WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE A JOB.

TED TURNER Broadcasting Entrepreneur

STAR POWER IN START-UP: (L-R) Arunima Singhdeo, Co-Founder & Director, Babyoye.com, Karisma Kapoor & Sanjay Nadkarni, Co- Founder, babyoye.com

abyoye.com, the leading online store for baby and mother care products announced that superstar and super mom Karisma Kapoor has invested in the company. Karisma has an undisclosed stake in the company and is the largest individual shareholder in a company whose other investors include Accel Partners and Tiger Global. Karisma Kapoor first came upon babyoye. com as a customer and found it a huge convenience. She met with Arunima Singhdeo, Co-Founder and Director and exchanged notes. Says

Arunima, "Karisma had so many amazing suggestions on what we could do, I began to see her as a partner and asked her if she wanted to come on board. I said we don't want this to be a brand ambassador relationship but much more. I am thrilled she agreed. This is definitely a first in India and Indian e-commerce." Karisma continues, "Babyoye delivers to 500 cities in India. It is a boon for babies and parents alike. I want to share this with every young mother. I really believe in Babyoye's vision of giving babies the right start in life."

Indian Ambience Vineyards that sells organic wine under the brand name Yana and Hyderabad-based EcoPaper, manufacturer of handmade paper products, have raised angel funding from Srini Chakwal. It was learnt that Chakwal had acquired 10% and 33.03% equity in Indian Ambience and EcoPaper, respectively. 12

August Capital to Raise $25M Earlystage Fund Early-stage venture capital firm August Capital Partners is raising $25 million for its maiden fund, which will look to invest in start-ups tapping India’s consumption story. The firm is expected to make a first close after garnering commitments worth $10-12 million, which it expects to reach by March 2012.

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

WITH OVER 10% OF THE OVERALL

3 million

odd SMEs in the country present in Gujarat, Hitachi Data Systems is set to launch its cloud services for the segment from the state. THE ANIL GROUP WILL INVEST

IN BRIEF Angel Funding for Indian Ambience Vineyards

TECH TICKER

IOB restructures SME loans Indian Overseas Bank is planning to restructure the SME and corporate loans. The bank plans to open another 300 branches especially in tier-II and tier-III cities. In Punjab and Haryana, the bank is opening 11 more branches in the current financial year. Out of the total, three branches would be specialised SME branches.

$10

million

in next 1 year, part of which will go to the establishment of the monitoring centres in India, while the rest will be spent on infrastructure and human resources to tap small businesses in India and US.

TRENDS & UPDATES THE NUMBER GAME

TECH TALK

Google to fetch 500,000 Indian SMBs free websites

A UK research shows SME employees are happier with their working environments than workers at larger enterprises and public sector organizations, due to factors such as choosing their own device to work on. Lesser number of SME employees feel under pressure to work long hours vs. their counterparts in larger organizations.

HAPPINESS QUOTIENT

WORK PRESSURE

SME Employees

39% 21%

SME Employees

Large Enterprises

41% 47%

FUNDING

While India is home to an estimated 8 million small and medium businesses, only about 400,000 have a website. However, now with Google going the extra mile seems like 500,000 more will have their own websites very soon. Google India early this November announced the launch of a nationwide initiative to help Small Medium Businesses in India to get online with a free website, personalised domain and hosting, called ‘India Get Your Business Online’. The aim of this initiative is to break down the barriers that stop small businesses from getting online. Hosting the website would now be easy with an instant and a free tool to set up made by Google. Google’s goal is to help 500,000 small medium businesses in India to get online in next three years through this programme, working with web hosting provider HostGator. By logging into www. indiagetonline.in small business owners can use the gizmo to get a free, easy-to-build website and web hosting for one year powered by HostGator. Businesses will also get a customised domain in name and free tools, training and resources to stay in power with the IT buck. Federation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) would also be supporting this programme. 14

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

ISB to aid entrepreneurs raise fund THE INDIAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS IS LOOKING AT HELPING ENTREPRENEURS FETCH FUNDS, THROUGH ITS NEWLY LAUNCHED PLATFORM ‘PROPERO’ THAT BRINGS TOGETHER VENTURE CAPITALISTS, ANGEL INVESTORS AND BANKERS. The initiative, which is not just restricted to the campus, aims to provide between ` 1 crore and ` 5 crore of equity and debt financing. Propero a two-day initiative, will be held in February 2012, where 30 investors along with ten banks and other angel networks will be participating. Start-up ventures from varied sectors in the country are in want of funds for scaling up their business plans. However, they must be in existence for at least 6 months

and a registered business. The school expects to shortlist at least 30 proposals that would make their investment pitch. Also, ISB along with Indian Angel Network and Mumbai Angels would mentor the applicants towards fine-tuning their investment pitches. Last year the school had conducted a pilot of the same for entrepreneurs within the ISB community. Then, of the 30 applicants 4 had received funding from various investors.

TECH TALK

TCS focuses on SMEs TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES’ ION IS FOCUSING ON THE SMALL AND MEDIUM RETAIL ENTERPRISE BUSINESS FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS. The company expects retail enterprises in the SME category to be IT ready to compete with big retail players after the government approved foreign direct investment in retail and cash-and-carry stores. iON is the TCS’ separate business unit providing IT services, consulting and business solutions to SMBs. iON retail solution offers services including sourcing, support, analytics, planning and selling to retail businesses. The business unit also serves four other verticals – education, wellness, manufacturing and professional

services. iON is providing IT services to about 250 small and medium enterprises, including many retail stores such as Oxford Book Store and Kalaniketan. At present TCS iON is giving cloud solutions to SMEs in India and abroad. Over the next five years, TCS’ iOn is expected to become a $2.5 billion company. The iON retail solution helps retail business entrepreneurs to reduce costs in terms of capital investment and provides the IT infrastructure and software on rent. The rent is charged monthly.

TRENDS & UPDATES

GYAN GURU THERE ARE OVER

2.6 cr

MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (MSMEs) MSMEs EMPLOY MORE THAN

6 cr WORKERS

MSME SECTOR ACCOUNT FOR AROUND

45%

OF THE MANUFACTURING OUTPUT IN THE ECONOMY MSME GENERATES AROUND

40%

OF THE EXPORT FROM THE COUNTRY

POLL-i-TICKS WHAT IS THE HARDEST PART OF STARTING A BUSINESS? A. Making a business plan B. Getting business registrations done C. Building marketing strategy D. Money to get started Send us your answers to editorial@entrepreneurindia.org

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

POLICY

Govt may hike SME investment cap SMALL IS SET TO GET BIGGER. GOVERNMENT IS PLANNING TO REVISE INVESTMENT LIMITS FOR CLASSIFICATION OF MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES AND ALSO LINK IT TO EMPLOYMENT AND TURNOVER, AS IS THE CASE IN SEVERAL PARTS OF THE WORLD.

mall is set to get bigger. Government is planning to revise investment limits for classification of micro, small and medium enterprises and also link it to employment and turnover, as is the case in several parts of the world. The investment ceiling is being reviewed as the last such revision took place around five years ago and since then the cost of plant and machinery has shot up significantly. There is discussion on linking the investment cap to inflation, something that has been talked about in the past, so that the industry does not have to depend on periodic revision and can instead scale up as and when required. At present, in case of manufacturing, any unit with investment between ` 25 lakh and ` 5crore is classified as a small enterprise, while those with investment of ` 5-10 crore are classified as medium. In case of services, the limits are lower, given the lower capital requirement in the sector. Investment includes funds invested in tools, plant and machinery , power generator and fire fighting equipment. In fact,

the rules stipulate that even taxes and shipping charges incurred in getting the equipment and in installing plant and machinery should be included. Till five years ago, the government only had one classification - small scale industries - and micro and medium were added when a special law was enacted for the sector. The review will impact over 2.6 crore micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), that together employ more than 6 crore workers, account for around 45% of the manufacturing output in the economy and generate around 40% of the export from the country. The proposal to include other criteria is a marked shift from the age-old policy to classify units as small based on the amount of investment. Sources said the move was essentially aimed at getting tax exemptions for the sector but there is now realisation that the policy needs to be reviewed. Although the issue has been discussed with stakeholders, a final decision has not been taken and so far the new caps have not been worked out.

POLICY

Banks to hike SME credit: Mamata WEST BENGAL CHIEF MINISTER MAMATA BANERJEE HAS URGED PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS TO INCREASE THE FLOW OF CREDIT TO AGRICULTURE AND MICRO AND SMALL ENTERPRISES SECTORS IN THE STATE. “Low credit flow to the micro and small enterprises is a matter of concern. It is only 48 per cent of credit requirement of my state. Annual credit plan target for the micro and small enterprises sector must be raised in West Bengal. It has been fixed at ` 9,000 crore- far below the annual credit requirement of ` 15,000 crore in 2011,” the minister

said. Suggesting major banks to pick a district and select a sector in the district to create entrepreneurs there, she said, “I understand that in some developed nations, models like ‘unit banking’ had created and nurtured entrepreneurs from the grass-root level, who later became global players,” she said.

TRENDS & UPDATES POLICY

India to have its SME Exchange India will be among the counted few countries to have an SME Exchange. It would be the prestigious NSE that would launch the SME. One of the parameters for a company to be listed in the SME is if the paid up capital of the company post issue is less than ` 10 crore, it would fall under the SME platform and if the paid up capital is between ` 10 crore and ` 2.5 crore, the company has the choice to come through the main door or to SME platform. POLICY

Mandatory procurement gets JUHHQ ÁDJ The procurement policy which makes it mandatory for all state-run companies, ministries and departments to procure 20 per cent of their products and service needs from SMEs has been approved by the government. Union Minister for MSME, Virbhadra Singh affirmed the policy would become mandatory three years from now. The minister further stated that Government departments not conforming to the mandatory procurement would be required to provide reasons to a review committee set up for the purpose.

R&D

Pune likely to be Asia’s next innovation hub says Study PUNE IS COMING UP AS A PARADISE FOR START-UP COMPANIES AND MAY BE EMERGING AS ASIA’S INNOVATION HUB. It has 124 software product start-up companies, 112 top global R&D centres, talent pool of 24,000 people engaged in various projects, 17 SEZs and IT parks, 18 IT-BPO SEZs and more than 40 engineering colleges. Advisory firm Zinnov Management Consulting has released a comprehensive study titled ‘Advantage Pune - The Innovation Frontier’ that highlights the enormous potential Pune holds in becoming the next innovation hub of Asia. Pune houses close to 125 indigenous start ups with business and

productivity software accounting for 50 per cent of it. In the years to come, the city can easily propel itself to the global league through some smart marketing efforts and creating a more vibrant ‘Brand Pune’. The city also has the highest number of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and large-scale units in the state. The district accounts for 49.7 per cent of MSME units and 50.5 per cent of large-scale units in Maharashtra, which goes on to show the engineering and R&D prowess of Pune.

FUNDING

SIDBI to unveil ` 850 cr VC funds SMALL INDUSTRIES DEVELOPMENT BANK OF INDIA (SIDBI) PLANS TO LAUNCH THREE VENTURE CAPITAL FUNDS WORTH ` 850 CRORE THIS FISCAL TO SUPPORT SMES. The SME sector grew 11 per cent last year. The largest of the venture funds – the India Opportunity Fund – will be worth ` 500 crore and will be given to SMEs having a good track record. The second one will be worth ` 50 crore and will be floated to encourage and invest in small units planning to enter the capital market through the proposed SME exchanges. SIDBI and the National Stock Exchange have teamed up to build a separate trading

platform dedicated to SMEs. SEBI has recently given green signal to both the BSE and NSE to set up SME exchanges to provide them an exclusive window to raise equity from the market and fund growth. SIDBI’s third venture capital fund will be worth ` 300 crore. The development finance institution plans to grow its outstanding loans by 20 per cent wherein all financial institutions plan to enter the capital market through SME exchanges.

TECH TALK

Karel, Intellicon extend tie-up Turkey’s Karel Electronics R&D Center, a public-listed company, has entered into a technologycum-financial tie-up with the Ahmedabad-based Intellicon Pvt Ltd for providing customised security solutions to retail buyers ranging from residential to SME sectors in India. The two companies will invest on a project-to-project basis for the development of customised solutions and upgradation of technologies for the SMEs, residential and other customers. 18

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

FUNDING

SME Credit of 1 Crore CREDIT LINKED CAPITAL SUBSIDY SCHEME (CLCSS) IS THE LATEST SCHEME LAUNCHED BY THE MINISTRY OF MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (MSME). Under this scheme MSEs across the country who intend on technological upgrade and fall under a capital subsidy at 15 per cent of value of plant and machinery will be provided loan of upto Rs.1 crore. Union cabinet minister for MSMEs Virbhadra Singh said the scheme will be implemented through 11 Nodal Banks and agencies such as Small Industries Development Bank of India

(SIDBI) and National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). The State Bank of India, Andhra Bank, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of India, Tamilnadu Industrial Investment Corporation Limited and the National Small Industries Corporation Ltd will also provide the scheme to SMEs.

WORK | Essentials SME features a collection of innovative luxury products.

Da Milanoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Corporate Gifts s here this New Year with its trenddy f products designed by renowned ddesigners. pplethora of products and accessories ividual dimension to the idea of New e gifts while ensuring a better corporate n the forthcoming year which includes ladiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; bags, wallets for men, belts, ollders, desk accessories, portfolios, aaniser, laptop bags, stylish trolleys, etc. gge starts from ` 1000-15000. bble in ggarh,

Debuts in India

iPhone 4S

Echo Smartpen

Released in India

LAUNCHED IN INDIA

The much awaited iPhone 4S has been launched in India by telecom operators Airtel and Aircel with a starting price of Rs. 44,500. Both the telecom operators have priced the 16-GB model at ` 44,500, while the 32-GB and 64-GB versions will be available for ` 50,900 and ` 57,500, respectively. The iPhone 4S is a touchscreen slate smartphone, which falls under the fourth generation of iPhones. The USP being video calling, it is particularly marketed for books and periodicals, movies, music, and games, and for general web and e-mail access. Announced and released in USA, UK, France, Germany and Japan in June 2010, the world has loved this phone like the other iPhones. The iPhone 4S runs on Apple’s iOS 5.0.1, the same as the iPhones, the iPad, and the iPod Touch. Primarily controlled by a user’s ﬁngertips on the multi-touch display boasts about its sensitive ﬁngertip attributes. The difference between the iPhone 4S and its predecessors is the new design, which incorporates an uninsulated stainless steel frame that acts as the device’s antenna. S-based Livescribe Inc, awarded for its Pulse SSmartpen, t launched l h d Echo E h Smartpen S t in i India I di early l October. The new product is geared for the business professional with compatibility with Connect and Paper Tablet communication. Marketed by Corbett Equipment the price starts from ` 6999 onwards. FEATURES Sleek, ergonomic design, rubberized, smaller grip4GB, 8GB storage capacity, standard Micro USB, Standard size 3.5mm audio jack, anti-roll body design, fully compatible with Livescribe platform and designed for cap. The extra are new accessories, new desktop and new applications. ENHANCEMENT Smart pen, Paper Replay Password, Launch Line, Custom, Pen Name, Livescribe desktop, Custom Notebooks, Import & Export pencasts, Retail application cards, Beta Desktop SDK, Sharing, iPhone and iPad pencast.

Karat from Delsey

New Rolling Suitcase

Delsey the French International brand present in 110 countries, spread across 5 continents recently launched KARAT, its exclusive new range of Rolling Suitcase. KARAT is hopeful to throng the Indian market with its original, trendy, design, innovative and patented secured sliding closure system taking care of the minutest details. Available as of now only in Delhi, with a starting cost of ` 13600. CHARACTERISTICS Simple zip, simple bar Trolley system, traditional design, simple twin wheels, 2.5 more resistant capability and Transport Security Administration combination lock. FUNCTIONALITIES Multiple pockets, low straps, protective cover and double aluminum bar trolley. JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

GUEST COLUMN | Time Management

GETTING MORE DONE IN LESS TIME To achieve more, one must utilise time well. Distributing and structuring tasks and preparing beforehand will go a long way in enhancing productivity.

TONY WHITE

e are all given the same 24 hours in a day, and yet, some individuals seem to be able to achieve a lot more in that time frame unlike others. The issue is not a lack of time, as we all have the same measure. The issue is how well we use that time to achieve the objectives that will bring us the biggest result. Here are some tips that I use that have helped in increasing my productivity three to four times more:

PREPARATION Stephen Covey in his seminal book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” uses the analogy 22

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARYY 2012

of a woodcutter continually cutting trees and eventually seeing his blade becoming blunt. Instead of continuing to cut the tree with a blunt blade, he recommends that we should take time out to sharpen the saw so that the cutting is with a sharp blade to maximise the effectiveness of every swing at the tree. Whilst the time spent in sharpening the saw may seem to be ineffective, the benefit of swinging with a sharp saw outweighs the energy used for swinging at a tree with a blunt blade. The same applies to our work-life. We need to prepare for success by being disciplined in our preparations, so here are some preparation tips to

ramp up your productivity: a brain-dump of everything you can think of that needs to be done. Break them up into as many header categories as you think the task fits into. Headers such as work, family, personal, etc. Do this quickly in no more than 10 minutes, and do it preferably as the last thing that you do in a day so that your list is ready the following day to get cracking on. Ź Now prioritise these into High, Medium and Low priority tasks according to their importance. You can mark them with an A, B and C for ease of use. Ź Cluster tasks together so that you get into a rhythm of doing similar Ź Do

tasks together. For example, if you have a lot of calls to make, then package them into one cluster of tasks. Ź Dissect these tasks into categories that will take no longer than 50 minutes at a time so if you have a big task to achieve, then break it down into 50-minute projects. Ź Assess which 50 minute cluster you will do first, second, etc. and jot these down in a clear sheet that will see you start the day with a defined purpose and clarity.

SETTING THE SCENE FOR SUCCESS I get tired of all the time management advice that tells me I just need to have more will power to be able to overcome distractions. The truth is, that many times will power just doesn’t cut it as emergencies arise that demand that I pay attention to certain distractions. They are what I call legitimate distractions. So how do I deal with these legitimate distractions? The secret that I have found is that we need to manage our environment. What I mean by this is that we need to set ourselves up for success in the first place by managing the environment that will see us be most effective. If that means closing the office door, going to a coffee house, or finding that secluded spot that will allow you to get on with your work, then that is what you need to manage. I am not talking about locking yourself off from the world for the entire day, but I am suggesting that you need to control your most productive time and protect it religiously. For some, the most productive time is the first thing in the morning, and for others, it is late at night. Whatever it is for you, I urge you to carve out this time and manage your environment so that you get on with producing great content during this time with no distractions. A great way to ensure these legitimate distractions do not affect your productivity is to get into the discipline of doing the following: Ź Turn off your mobile phone and have all calls go through to message bank. Then once you have finished your most productive time, set up a session where you do nothing but return calls. If you are in an office and have an executive assistant, tell them to hold all your calls and return these at an appointed time. 24

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

THOMAS EDISON WELL SAID THAT SUCCESS IS ONE PER CENT INSPIRATION AND 99 PER CENT PERSPIRATION. Ź Your

e-mail is one of the biggest distractions. That bell alarm that notifies you of a new e-mail is one of the biggest distractions. My recommendation is to “work offline” during these times where you are most productive. In MS Outlook, you can do this with one click. Then set up specific sessions during the day where you will respond to these e-mails. So if you have prepared well, and have managed your environment, you are now ready to rapidly accelerate your productivity through actually getting on and doing the work.

EXECUTION Thomas Edison well said that success is one per cent inspiration and 99 per cent perspiration. Many people go to the trouble of preparing long lists of things to be done, but fail to execute. If you have prepared well the night before, and have a disciplined approach to getting the work done, and have managed your environment for maximum effectiveness with no distractions, then you will see your productivity go off the charts. Here is the system that I use to accomplish more than many other people in the same 24-hour period: Ź The 50-Minute Focus – Break your tasks into clusters of 50 minutes then set your stopwatch timer on your mobile to count down from 50 minutes. You can also get some timers to download onto your computer if this suits you better. Go hard at getting all that needs to be done in this 50-minute block. When the alarm goes off at the end of the 50 minutes, take a 10minute break by doing something completely different – take a walk, make a coffee, talk to an associate. Whatever it is, make sure you give your brain a 10-minute break as it will bring closure to the last task and will prepare you for starting the next 50-minute focus block. Ź Set deadlines – If you are like the rest of us, you will note that perhaps the most productive time you ever have is the day before leaving on vacation. The fact that

you will not be there forces you to prioritise and get things done. I want you to have this same mindset for 365 days a year, and not just once a year. Set clear not negotiable deadlines to get the work done, and then get on with completing it within the designated time. Cut yourself some slack in the early days as you will get better at estimating how long certain tasks will take to get done. Ź Celebrate your productivity by doing something you enjoy doing. Most people gravitate towards the tasks they enjoy and not the tasks they have to do. Part of a disciplined approach is to achieve the most important tasks (many times they are not the most attractive tasks) first, and then reward yourself by doing some things you enjoy after these important tasks are completed. There is a sort of power in preparing lists, organising the work to be done, then executing each one of those tasks systematically throughout the day. When you start applying the above principles, you will seize control of your day and find that you will achieve at least three to four times more work in the same 24-hour period. This is where discipline and focus do come into the equation. You must start off every day with a determination to complete everything on your list - t is a not negotiable. If you start off with anything less, then you will be at the mercy of everybody else, who haphazardly work through their day without a plan. It’s about personal leadership, so get into the driver’s seat and start steering down a path that will see you getting more done in less time. I am interested in hearing how you apply these principles into your everyday work-life, so please e-mail me on tony@franchiseindia. com and tell me if it is making a difference in your productivity.

The author runs his own global consultancy firm, The White Connection, in New Delhi. He is an SME specialist with a passion for seeing local entrepreneurs scale their business using a franchise model. Tony regularly offers consulting services to international brands across South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

COVER STORY | Metro Shoes

Putting her best FOOT FORWARD

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

I make sure that her shoes are also visible while getting the photo shoot done. After all, she is the leading lady behind one of the oldest shoe brands in the country - Metro. Farah Malik Bhanji, Executive Director, Metro Shoes, always fantasised as a child how much fun it is, to be at a shop selling shoes. Retail is in the blood of this family which runs a three generation old company, synonymous with the culture of Mumbai. Metro Shoes carries a six decade old ethos of keeping service at the forefront, despite evolving with its new brands suited towards the new-age customer. PUNITA SABHARWAL KAPOOR

aking an early morning flight to Mumbai on the first working day of the week, I begin my journey to meet the entrepreneur family of Rafique Malik and Farah Malik Bhanji, the father and daughter duo. Meeting them on various other occasions has been limited to formal meetings - of knowing the owner of a well-known shoe company. But today, our meeting is more towards getting real insights; to know the transformation of a six decade old brand and how it still remains relevant to the new generation. Though time is short, with just an hour given to know them, I ensure to notice each and every detail. Entering Farah’s room I can see models of footwear displayed on the side table and on the other side, the family portraits. Both actually tell me a lot about her, the keen interest towards merchandising and the family playing a role in the business. A shoe fetish of every woman is something Farah can easily relate with. The dream to be the number one shoe retail brand in India is the vision that actually keeps Farah awake at night. Even now, after having various brands like Metro, Mochi and MSL in her platter, Farah doesn’t seem to rest, as her journey has just begun. She is now excited about her next project which is Metro Accessories. “In the newer projects we constantly take a lot of risk to ensure it is a success. So you have to justify what you are doing now. Though it is a family business, it should be professionally run, and the company should be able to succeed irrespectively,” assures Farah.

Farah is proudly aware that she now heads the most well-known footwear retail company in India, but that actually makes her more cautious about the service standards at each of the stores. Standing tall at 175 stores in 55 cities, Metro has come a long way. The company incepted in 1947 came out with its first store at Colaba, which still remains a landmark in Mumbai. Customers travel all the way from other parts of Mumbai to shop at the flagship store. “People relate with this store. Even after being a part of modern retail, we still carry the local touch of a small retailer to treat our customers with best service. I am proud of our brand’s heritage,” she exclaims. Over the past years, a new continuous improvement management technique has evolved. This is primarily because being on the shop floor; Farah gets many ideas of improvements from the front end employees. If the idea is good, it gets implemented across all the stores as a best practice.

FOLLOWING THE FOOTSTEPS The first Metro Shoes store was opened in Colaba by Farah’s grandfather, Late Mr Abdul Malik Tejani in 1947. In those days, footwear stores were named after famous theatres and that’s how Metro Shoes got its name. The first Metro Shoes store even attracted film stars like the young Amitabh Bachchan. Even today it remains a favourite shopping destination for NRIs and tourists. Farah’s father, Rafique Malik, who joined the family business at a young age of 19, saw tremendous potential in JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

THOSE WERE THE DAYS: A family pic forming Farah’s favourite

STORE GROWTH OVER ONE YEAR FORMAT Metro Mochi MSL DMART SIS SPENCER SIS Total

AS ON 08.11.2011 106 59 11 11 12 199

the concept and made possible the large-scale expansion of Metro Shoes across the country. Farah who graduated in 1999 from the University of Texas came to India to join the family business. Since a very young age, Farah was involved with the business. Farah joined the family business in 2000 in the marketing function first. However, her passion for fashion and product sourcing drew her towards the function of Buying and Sourcing, which she currently spearheads besides marketing and operations.

SHOE FETISH Lot of players come in and go and suddenly retail is the new fad. Everybody is running for aggressive expansion plans. For Metro Shoes, every shop’s success is very important. The manager has to ensure a good bottom-line. “We have seen some of the highest sales per squarefoot in Tier 2 cities like Chandigarh. It’s a small store but with a very high average price. Bombay, by its sheer size and the opportunity being so big, takes over other cities as compared to sales,” claims Farah. When Metro Shoes primarily started, it was only doing men’s and women’s footwear. “Then we 28

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

AS ON 08.11.2010 86 48 7 2 4 147

GROWTH % 23.26 22.92 57.14 450.00 200.00 35.37

‘’

Passion is what brings me to work every single day and drives me to achieve my goals. I believe that true success and happiness can only be achieved if you are passionate about whatever you do. FARAH MALIK BHANJI Executive Director, Metro Shoes Ltd. realised there is definitely a need for a younger brand. There is a lot of youth force in India to which we are not necessarily catering to. Metro Shoes is more of a family store. And that’s how we started Mochi,” Farah told me. She has been spearheading new concepts in development and bringing out new projects in the market. She also made Metro Shoes the first Indian footwear company to start its own website, www.metroshoes.net. Metro Shoes also saw a great opportunity in the value segment. A lot of current brands which were

holding a very large share across the value chain were moving out of the budget space. Thus the company soon started another brand called MSL (More Shoes for Less), which now has about 35 points of sale. The new accessories venture will be launched by the end of this month which will be known as Metro Accessories. It will house all kinds of accessories for men and women, from belts to wallets to handbags. On this new move, Farah says, “In the last 3-4 years, we have seen tremendous growth in the accessory section, which is also housed in Metro stores. In our current stores, we do not have the shelf space to exploit this potential. That’s why we thought there was a need for that kind of a store in the marketplace.”

STAYING ONE STEP AHEAD Handling manpower of 150 employees in the back end and over 1,700 employees in the front end is no small feat. Given that the footwear industry does not attract the best front-end talent, Metro Shoes invests heavily in training. Every month, a manager’s meet takes place, where they track, reinforce and share best practices to be implemented across the chain. At Metro Shoes, the business model is developed around one reality – “Most Indians make better entrepreneurs than employees”. Hence, it follows a performance linked model that is applied to both internal and external stakeholders. This has seen the company in good stead during boom and recessionary periods both. A strong believer in the power of technology, Farah has been impressed upon by the quick adoption of new technology whether it was barcodes or a strong MIS system. A customised MIS system to suit the business structure and strategy providing all pertinent information in less than three clicks was developed in consideration to its users (store staff) who are not well versed with technology. The company is now in the process of implementing an ERP across the organisation to move towards highly accelerated growth. The company’s marketing strategy is based on its specific brands and their life-cycle. With Metro Shoes, the recent strategy has been to build top of the mind recall, as a national

MOVING FORWARD Year 1985-1986 THE FIRST CRORE chain, and remain relevant to all age groups. “We have achieved this with our brand ambassadors Saif and Kareena,” says Farah. Since Mochi is targeted towards the youth, its marketing strategy lies in associating with properties like MTV Roadies and Channel V’s Indiafest that appeal to the Indian youth.“With MSL, we follow tactical price-based advertising strategy to promote its value for money proposition,” adds Farah. Metro sources its products from more than 100 vendors in Mumbai, Agra, Delhi, Kanpur, Chennai and various other cities. Internationally, it sources from China, Malaysia and Brazil. A Vendor Management System that allows its vendors to monitor their stocks, sales, and introductions, has also been enabled by Farah for efficient management of the products. Also making a collection region specific has been a success strategy for Metro Shoes. The company caters to the regional sensitivity of India: it knows well to stock small sizes in Kolkata and the highest heels in Chandigarh. Warehousing and logistics, which is a major challenge for any entrepreneur in the retail sector, is handled by ease by Metro’s in-house staff. Thirty per cent of the space in every retail store is entirely dedicated towards storage.

Year 2006 100 CRORE

THESE ARE THE DAYS: Alisha Malik, Brand Manager, Mochi with VJ Banni & Rannvijay

AWARDS/ RECOGNITIONS ³ “Asia Retail Congress Life Time Achievement Award” awarded to Mr Rafique Malik. ³ “CMO Council Brand Leadership Award 2009”, for being the Brand Leader of the year under Footwear category. ³ “Reid and Taylor Awards for Retail Excellence” for being the best Retailer of the year under Footwear category for the year 2008.

FIT FOR IT Though most of the expansion for Metro was achieved through internal accruals, the company had a private equity investor who invested three years back. PE major Rakesh Jhunjhunwala currently owns 15 per cent stake in the business. Talking about how it took place, Farah remembers, “At that point in time we were not specifically looking at a financial investment, but rather a strategic investor who would help to get an outsider’s perspective.” The PE firm forms a part of the advisory board at Metro giving strategic inputs and bringing an urgency to do things. “They keep opening our eyes as to what’s happening around. Otherwise you just tend to look

Year 2010 275 CRORE

at only your business and your industry. They tell us about the best practices of retailers across the world. So the perspective and the measuring tape changes. They give you a different perspective on your own business. It helps us to identify new things in our businesses. It helps to test new things,” asserts Farah.

NEXT MOVE The major expansion for Metro Shoes started in the last two-three years. “Earlier, we were present in only the major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata. We always wanted to grow, but never had this aggressive stage. The fact was that real estate opportunities were fewer to come

by so when the market started opening up two-three years ago, with the advent of malls, we saw there is a lot of real estate open to us now. In the last two-three years we have been growing at 35 per cent. This year also we hope to do a growth of 35 per cent,” claims Farah. Metro works on a revenuesharing model with most of the real estate developers. The company has aggressive expansion plans to reach to a mark of 400 plus showrooms by March 2014 with a turnover crossing ` 10 billion. Currently, it ended this October at over ` 275 crore, enjoying a cumulative growth rate of about 35 per cent over last year. And it hopes to end this financial year at over ` 500 crore.

LIVING THE ENTREPRENEUR DREAM Having been born in a family of entrepreneurs, Farah has always been taught to dare to dream and learn to excel. This belief truly embodies the spirit of entrepreneurship. As through great vision and excellence, any feat is possible. In her own words “Passion is what brings me to work every single day and drives me to achieve my goals. I believe that true success and happiness can only be achieved if you are passionate about whatever you do.” “We love so much what we do. So it’s no longer work. I think that’s really important for any entrepreneur to succeed,” signs off Farah. JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

GUEST COLUMN | Legal

Follow the Rules of the Game The rise of the SME sector in India can be attributed to the entrepreneurial spirit of the Indian educated masses. The Government too, has been promoting it through various regulatory measures.

SEEMA JHINGAN

ften considered the nucleus of expanding industrialisation in India, Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) have seen a prodigious rise in the recent past. The ascent of SME sector is mainly attributable to the decline of licensing Raj requiring lesser operational licensing requirements for businesses in India, and exponential rise in entrepreneurial spirit of the Indian educated 30

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

masses. Recent past has also seen the SMEs expanding internationally, assuming national and economic significance. The government has paid considerable attention to the development of SME sector in India, regulated and minimised the permits and registrations, ensured reasonable flexibility in operation of the sector and offered certain tax holidays to promote small businesses. Statutes such as the

Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 have also been enacted to facilitate promotion and development and enhance the competitiveness of SMEs engaged in the manufacture and production of goods or provision of services. SMEs can operate under various structures in India, viz. companies, partnership concerns, proprietorship concerns, limited liability partnerships, etc. Although, a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; may not be a popular

With an expected 100% growth in the next 5 years*, the Education Industry in India is poised for phenomenal growth and is the top choice for the intelligent investor. Get a head start with Brainworks, the leading pre-school education brand with over 60 centres in 15 Indian cities. WHY BRAINWORKS? Strong Foundation: Brainworks is built on World Class curriculum, rigorous Training & Innovative Marketing Fastest Growing Franchise: With a 42% growth last year (as compared to the average Industry growth rate of 30%) Profitability Differentiator: Multiple program franchise to maximize the ROI. Aggressive Plans: Poised to reach 100 branches by mid 2012 Long Term Vision: Expanding our horizons beyond Academics into Child Development with programs such as Total Classroom Management, Personality Development, Day Care, Training FRANCHISE FACTS Area Required: Modules etc Around 1200-1500 sq ft, WHO CAN BE OUR FRANCHISEE? Women Entrepreneurs with significant financial backing People who share similar goals & visions Good business network within the education industry

owned or leased Ground floor/Independent property preferred. Initial Investment: Rs. 7-12 lacs Target Regions: Metros/Mini Metros/Cities Property location should be close to residential areas.

form of business entity amongst smaller entrepreneurs due to the requirement of annual and periodic filings with the Registrar of Companies, it is the most recommended owing mainly to its transparency, protection against unlimited liability for its stakeholders and flexible structure, allowing easy expansion and investment by third party investors for growth. Companies in the SME sector are usually limited by shares, closely held by members of the entrepreneur’s family or group of people. A company is a distinct legal, corporate and taxable entity and distribution of dividend by a company is not taxable in the hands of its shareholders. There are certain licenses and registrations that every SME should obtain for carrying out its business activities. For example, obtaining a permanent account number (PAN) is not only mandatory in terms of the Income Tax Act, 1961, that ensures tax deduction at source at lower applicable rates, but it is also required at various steps in the operation of the business, like quoting on invoices, claiming refund for tax deducted at source and opening of a bank account. Further, every SME which deducts or collects tax at source on payments made to its employees or third parties also need to obtain a tax deducted at source account number (TAN). TAN must be obtained within one month of the end of the month in which tax was deducted. TAN has to be quoted in all challans/certificates issued in accordance with tax deduction and returns delivered to the income tax authority. Every business establishment including a private company is required to be registered under the Shops and Commercial Establishments Act applicable in the state where its office(s) is situated, within 90 days from the date of commencement of business. The registration is mandatory in most states for protection and regulation of the workforce in the SME except in certain cases where it is exempted by the Act itself. If sale of any product/goods is contemplated, business entities are also required to obtain registrations under the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (for inter-state sales occasioning movement of goods 32

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

from one state to the other or effected by a transfer of documents of title to the goods during their movement from one state to another), and the applicable state Vat Acts (for sales within the state). Application for registration is to be made within 30 days from the date of liability to pay tax under respective Acts. The government has categorised a catena of services as taxable services and regularly revises the applicable guidelines vide amendments to the Finance Act every financial year. SMEs providing any such services whose aggregate value of taxable services provided in a financial year exceeds the stipulated amount is required to obtain registration for service tax. There are various employee beneficial statutes enacted by the Legislature under which registrations have been mandated for the employers (e.g. SMEs), if the threshold of persons employed exceeds the stipulated number under the relevant statute. The employees’ provident fund (EPF) provides for establishment of a

WHILE REGULATIONS AND REGISTRATIONS MAY MEAN MORE COMPLIANCE, THESE ASSIST IN STRUCTURED AND CONSISTENT GROWTH AND AUGMENTATION IN THE SME SECTOR AND CONSEQUENTLY, INDIA’S ECONOMY. compulsory provident fund, family pension fund and deposit linked insurance fund for the benefit of employees in establishments. For financing these schemes, the Central Government has established a fund to which both the employer and the employees are required to contribute their shares. Registration under EPF is applicable and mandatory for establishments employing more than 20 persons. Likewise, the employees’ state insurance scheme (ESI) provides workers medical relief, sickness cash benefits, maternity benefits to women workers, pension to the dependent of the deceased workmen and compensation for fatal and other employment injuries including occupational diseases, in an integrated form through a

contributory fund. Registration under ESI is applicable to establishments where 20 or more persons are employed. Establishments registered under the ESI are exempted from the provisions of the Maternity Benefit Act and Workmen’s Compensation Act. Brand awareness and recognition is the foundation for success for every enterprise. One of the most essential characteristic of any business is its intellectual property which sets it apart from the rest. Infringement or misuse of intellectual property such as trademarks, designs, literary work, patents, etc. is punishable under applicable statutes. It is recommended that every SME applies for registration of its trademarks, brand names, logos, designs, patents, etc. to secure its intellectual property rights and avoid misuse of its goodwill by its competitors. Apart from the foregoing, there are certain sector specific licenses and registrations that may be required by a SME depending on its business activities. For example, obtaining an importer-exporter code is mandatory for undertaking any commercial import or export of goods and a multimodal transport operator license is required for every entity engaged in transport of goods by any two modes: road, sea or air. While regulations and registrations may mean more compliance, these assist in structured and consistent growth and augmentation in the SME sector and consequently, India’s economy. Author is a Senior Partner at LexCounsel, Law Offices, has more than 17 years of experience. She is recognised for her capability of structuring innovative investment models and has considerable transactional experience in representing corporations on regulatory and licensing issues, complex acquisitions and divestments, investment structuring and exits, collaborations and debt/equity funding, tax structuring and related documentation.

For South & North Contact Paresh Padia on 96866 69486 For west Contact Seshu Rao on 92258 05476 Or write to 3mcarcare.in@mmm.com to find out more about how you can be ahead of the game, with a

STRATEGY | Growth

WHY INNOVATE? Whosoever aspires to be the next entrepreneur is well aware of the innate DNA of the corporate world. ‘Innovation’ being the foundation of this makeup; the development and evolvement of innovation in the global front has led to this ten letter word becoming the axis of every successful business. SAPNA BHARDWAJ INNOVATIVE INDIA Apple, Twitter, Facebook, Google, Groupon, Microsoft, Kodak, and the list goes on. Be it the Forbes listing of top 100 Innovative Companies or the listing of a Daily, these giants have made an invincible mark for themselves, and based on their marketable USPs; the entity is geared on to be evidently visible for centuries to come. The global business of India has superceded the Indian politics by 100 years and has done marvellously well based on the crux: ‘Innovation’. Topping the list of Indian Innovation is ‘Shaadi.com’ (Fast Company March 2011), which has become the world’s largest matrimonial site. The never thought concept of online marriages in India has seen an overwhelming response. ‘Tata Motors’ acknowledged the Innovation wave and has done wonders delivering products like Nano, Aria, Indigo and SUVs. David Wittenberg, CEO of The Innovation Workgroup, one of the leading companies in the field of innovation, which provides innovative breakthrough solutions states, “First we have a great tradition in India called ‘Jugaad’, which is a form of innovation, and today it has become the DNA of business in India. Secondly, now that we are in the liberalised and globalised economy, those SMEs that are ‘forward thinking SMBs are now looking for new ways of business. In the past, we did everything the traditional way, but today the SME is feeling the need to compete. I am hopeful that the 34

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

From the ‘Dabbawala’ of Mumbai to the captive MNC using Key Fob for software login, each business does little or most to bring innovation to its execution. With innovation, the customer is excited, the business is accepted, and the demand supply chart brings appreciation and popularity is achieved. With the goodwill earned, the circumference is complete; with the circle made; the axis is the committed performer of the entrepreneur. The market trend proves invention has become passé and innovation is in, and is definitely here to stay. SMB would be able to make it big with innovation and Jugaad.” For instance, Indorebased company; MD Juncture Technologies Pvt. ltd, a SME venture led by Ruchi Singh has done exceptionally well. This company studies the business of its clients and prepares software and applications in order to make these efficient and versatile. The existing serving companies top in its list are the hotel management companies, it also caters to immigration, education, training, etc. Another example is of ‘HarVa’, which is India’s first rural business process outsourcing operation, which trains young rural women to develop technical skills and perform in the global IT hub. Another company ‘A Little World’ took banking to the remotest villages in India and made saving and deposits possible for the Indian poor. ‘Fabindia’ connected more than 40,000 traditional craftspeople with the world’s growing urban middle class. ‘Godrej Group’ introduced refrigeration to India’s rural masses. The fridge, which costs roughly $ 70, does not have a compressor and runs on batteries. ‘Apollo Telemedicine’, ‘Gram Vaani’, ‘Invention Labs’, and ‘Digital Green’ are the other dominant names in the Indian innovation industry.

GROWTH AND HOW BUSINESS THRIVES ON INNOVATION Growth being the agenda of business innovation has taken the inventor and the entrepreneur in its realm, and hence, has changed the deliverables of the business world. Innovation is not invention or renovation; it today signifies a stratagem, which results in substantial positive change compared to incremental changes. The creation of better-effective product, processed, technologically up-to-dated, user-friendly, and 36

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

multiple usages has become the trademark of the ‘Innovation Age’. Innovation has encompassed every area of any organisation. Be it design and technology; product development and value creation; creativity and problem solving; getting the best employee resources, etc. The most successful companies are those that are effectively driving innovation across the board. UNIKEN is one such company which has made its mark in the SME sector. With innovation being the focus of the company, Sanjay Deshpande, CEO & Chief Innovation Officer, UNIKEN, states, “Indian society continues to be utility driven in its consumption behaviour rather than quality driven. While the innovation talent is available, it cannot be put to use into our economy as the market does not demand it. Indian businesses have innovated, not necessarily along product and services dimensions, but also on cost of operation dimensions. The kinds of structures and processes we have developed are extremely sophisticated, and the innovation on these dimensions is, indeed, world-class. SMEs have to, by necessity, stay in a continuous innovation mode to survive.”

‘’

First we have a great tradition in India called ‘Jugaad’, which is a form of innovation, and today it has become the DNA of business in India. DAVID WITTENBERG CEO, The Innovation Workgroup

STAY IN THE MARKET Innovation has been one of the input determinants of competitiveness in global firms. Companies either big or small have learned the trick. In order to survive, the only way out is to innovate. Hence, experimenting is a critical step in innovating. With every organisation today having R&D department, all actions are calculative and planned. Nevertheless, be it companies who have millions to spare for R&D, or the small businesses; innovation is the principal precedence.

INTERNATIONAL CASE STUDIES IN INNOVATION The economies of the world have become a part of the rapidly changing market trends. Case studies by the government of Australia show that competitive business models, marketing strategies, improved services, and better technologies in the market encourage innovation. Building innovation capability, therefore, becomes an important, if not necessary strategy for a business to develop resilient market niches and find superior efficiencies. In order for business innovation to thrive, the broader environment in which it takes place must be encouraging and supportive. Innovation will falter if businesses face excessive or limiting regulation in bringing new products to market or their intellectual property is not protected. The recently held World Innovation Forum 2011 in USA brought together ideas and insights shared by a group of experts and practitioners, offering perspectives on how innovation is being implemented across a variety of different fields for the overall growth of the organisations. A major portion of the SMEs come from the technically sound

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iAppleforInc.,innovation the undoubtedly number one innovative company in the world has given the world game-changing innovations such as the iPod, iTunes, iPhone, iPad, the Apple line of computers, and more. Apple’s strategy for innovation is Creativity and Innovation Innovation in Products Innovation in Business Model Innovation in Customer Experience Innovation and Leadership Steve Jobs CEO & Co-Founder was, indeed, the world’s fearless inventor and entrepreneur.

technology commercialisation. The Technopreneur Promotion Programme (TePP) and Technology Promotion, Development and Utilisation (TDPU) Programme, both a Government of India’s initiative, were launched to tap the vast innovative potential of the citizens of India. TePP is a mechanism to promote individual innovators to become technology-based entrepreneurs (Technopreneurs).

IPR AND INNOVATION and educated class. Bhabesh Goswami, alumni of Assam Engineering College, is at present a Lecturer at Guhati University, he states, “The two good things about SMEs are that it creates self employment and second, it can provide employment to others as well. Even the government, both state and central, is doing its bit by focusing on SMEs. For instance, earlier it was the tape recorder, then CD, and now there are all sorts of storage devices. Once you start something, innovation is a must. From time to time you have to be innovative. For instance, in the beginning Reliance established its chain everywhere, but now they are facing a tough time with all the competitors. The same happened with Nokia and Samsung; though they were the pioneers of touch screen, without innovation they have now become a standby for the Android lovers. Innovation leads you to become the ruling players in the market and then it becomes easy to have a monopoly in the market. The trick is that innovation itself has to be innovated time and again.” Nokia had been dominating the mobile market globally for more than 40 years, and its name had become synonymous with a mobile. It’s only when Samsung, the South Korean brand, thronged the mobile market with endless variety and updated innovation, Nokia acknowledged its deficiency in innovation. Other Indian brands in the mobile market had captured a major portion of business like Spice; Micromax, etc., these provided phones with all features of the N-series of Nokia with a cost suitable to the middle and lower-middle class Indians. Nokia entered the Android domain very 38

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

late after Android had become acceptable. The terrain for Nokia had not been smooth as it was not much into innovation; it was more into increasing the horizontal line of its products. However, now it has understood the importance of innovation, which is evident with its alliance with Microsoft by replacing Symbian and MeeGo by Windows Phone 7.

INDIAN GOVERNMENT’S ROLE IN SUPPORTING INNOVATION The Government of India as well as the industry leaders have taken many steps to promote and inculcate a spirit of innovation in India, and to encourage application of breakthrough ideas in the society. Efforts to encourage innovation started more than a decade ago in 2000 when the Government started National Innovation Foundation (NIF), an autonomous body with a corpus fund of ` 200 million. The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) launched a new venture keeping in mind the catalytic role to be played by the SME units. Started in the year 2004 with a mass fund of ` 5,000 million entirely dedicated to the SME unit; the fund is valid for eight years. The fund’s objective is to identify unlisted SME entities in various growing sectors such as life sciences, retailing, light engineering, food processing, information technology, infrastructure related to services such as health care, logistics and distributions. The Ministry of Science and Technology also undertakes several schemes and incentives aimed to build strong science and technology infrastructure in the country, which can further the process of innovation and promote

With creation and innovation comes security. This is where Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) is of prime importance for innovation. It is the foundation of any knowledgebased economy as it is the interface of creations and rights. It pervades through all sectors of the economy and is gradually becoming important for ensuring competitiveness of the enterprise.

SOME TOOLS OF IPR TO PROTECT INNOVATIONS Copyright: is concerned with protection of creative works that are musical, literary, artistic, lectures, plays, art reproductions, models, photographs, and software, etc. Q Patent: pertains to practical innovations and aims to protect inventions that are novel, nonobvious and useful. Q Trademark: is related to commercial symbols and concern to protect distinctive marks such as words and signs including personal names, letters, numerals, figurative elements (logos); devices; visually perceptible two or three dimensional signs and shapes or their combinations; audible signs and sounds, etc. Q Industrial Designs: protects novel non-functional features of shape, configuration, pattern, ornamentation or composition of lines or colours. Q Geographical Indications: are defined as that aspect of industrial property, which refers to the country or to a place of origin of that product. The journey from ‘I want to be an entrepreneur’ to ‘I am an Entrepreneur’ is not an easy one, but by understanding the demands of the existent market, it can be made possible by incorporating ‘Innovation’. Q

START-UP | Resource

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hile establishing a start-up, hiring is the last thing that comes to our mind. Making a business plan, seeking investors, getting the infrastructure ready, and preparing your sales pitch, etc. takes most of your time. But it is necessary, in order to move things, to come out of your sole ownership and start taking professional help to scale up. You need to wear the HR hat and get ready for your first recruitment drive.

STAFFING YOUR START-UP Having your core team ready is an issue that can keep most initiators of a start-up awake at night. Before you go out hunting for the right people who are ideally not just employees but are semi-promoters, you need to be clear what traits are you looking at? Next would be, searching your contacts and network of friends, if they fit in your wish list. If you have an area of business, where only a specialist could come, you also need to think about keeping your costs low till your business reaches a certain point of scale. Till that time, either consider hiring a less experienced person or probably outsourcing the work to a specialist. This way you can later take up your opportunity with the specialist and make him/her a part of your core team. As a start-up, there would be many of your friends, associates and past colleagues who would be excited about the business you are in. They can be the first set of people you can look at for your initial recruitment phase. In this stage of business, where you have a cash crunch situation, you need someone who would be there in thick and thin of business. Usually, the hiring process is not the main focus during the initial start-up days, as you are not just looking at employees, but are 40

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

looking at key people who would be there for a long term and can actually become key decision makers as the company grows. Always on a lookout for likemined people, Jatin Varma, Founder, Twenty Onwards Media, shares that the type of people who apply to them are quite different and most of them have stuck around. He says, “I have quite a few people in the company since the first few months of our inception. I’ll give you the example of a writer, who joined us in the third month; he is now our creative head. An engineer from IIT Kharagpur, he could have made an easier career choice; but he didn’t for many reasons, and one of them being he liked the idea of what we were trying to do, even if it wasn’t very clear in the beginning.” On this, Manu Agarwal, Founder, Naaptol says, “The key people in Naaptol have been there earlier with me. These people are pretty much there for life because it’s not just about a job for them. It’s their passion and the desire to grow at a different level.” A a start-up needs to take along such people and facilitate to help them grow as the company grows.

WHERE TO FIND START-UP STAFF Hiring a specialist in the startup phase is a huge risk, as in an upcoming venture, success is not guaranteed. At this stage, you need someone whose salary won’t pinch you much, and someone who is dedicated enough so that even if there are moments when you are unable to pay, he/she stays with you. To handle this, bring in people who are hungry for growth. While hiring people from outside you can first try working on an assignment or outsourcing basis to see their professional capability. If it works well you can share the vision with the person and take him/her on board. As it’s a start-up, most people will be sacrificing a lot of things for working with you, and they might not get the best infrastructure as desired. While building this first team, you can either look for partnership or opt for giving them some equity stake in the business that will actually attract them towards the organisation. As a beginner, you should have an open culture in place so that the new joinees have freedom to work. You should also be

‘’ The key people in Naaptol have been there earlier with me. These people are pretty much there for life because it’s not just about job for them. It’s their passion and the desire to grow at a different level. MANU AGARWAL Founder, Naaptol

open about the key focus areas with the team, as you would be working with a small team and they are the ones who will help you in growing your business. The idea of joining a start-up is not so appealing for quite a few people out there. So the people who show up to join you are either fresh, or didn’t get a job anywhere else, or they are the adventurous kinds. Varma mentions, “Having an experienced person on board even if only as a consultant can be of big help. However, depending upon your business plan get the right mix of experience and freshness.”

THE TRAP Since you are in the hiring stage for the first time, at times, this will or will not go well, leading to some wrong hiring. Sharing his experience of finding the right people, Varma says, “Well, one clear trap I fell for in the beginning was taking the resume too literally, many a times the skill set really didn’t match what was on paper. Even the idea of focusing on high school education didn’t always turn out correct. The result was – wasted resources and time. Hiring people is, in my opinion, an art form, it takes years to perfect it.” In the beginning, Varma relied on a mix of consultants and online job portals to hire. The craziest/ most creative individuals he found was through posting Ads online. The consultants were usually used for hiring certain individuals with specialised skills. Agarwal communicates, “If a wrong hiring is done, you should be able to identify and part ways, rather than sticking to that wrong hiring for a long time.” Hiring is a game that

you will learn over time. Be innovative while hiring, this will set you apart. You can opt for a fresher who is passionate about making it big in the professional world. The thumb rule is to hire people for functions which are not your strengths. Also, be prepared to share things transparently with your core team. The more transparent you are about your vision, the faster it will be for you to grow. Make sure the core team that you set together, sticks together. A team with common beliefs is a key necessity to take a start-up to success. Agarwal advices further, “Start forming a team from ground level. Identify people so that you can scale up. You can find people who are just beginning their careers but are very smart and start grooming them up. A few months of grooming them up and by that time you are already on the run.”

BUILDING CULTURE AND COMMUNICATION Most start-ups have a problem defining the roles, which is very clear for an employee who’s joining a company which is new in the market. Be honest with what you expect with the deadlines. It is also better to first start on a project basis to outsource your work to a person who’s professional, but is unknown in your circle. If it fits well and the synergies match, you can further talk about taking him on board on a fullfledged basis. Stressing on building the right culture, Agarwal says, “You need to have a complete open policy where you call everybody with their first names. You continue to show that vision to your team. The responsibility is on the entrepreneur to make sure that vision clearly goes down to every member of the team.” One should hire semi-promoters kind of people. This way you make sure that they have a lot of control in day-to-day operations in the respective areas in which they belong. You can find them among friends or in the group of people with whom you have worked for earlier. An entrepreneur initially can take care of finance and marketing, and for operations he needs to hire someone to take this responsibility. While hiring, you need to find people who complement each other in the business. JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

GUEST COLUMN | Ideas

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MUKUND MOHAN

he process of ‘Ideation’ and validation before you start a company: If you’re like most entrepreneurs (I fall in this bucket), who want to start a company, you probably get 100 exciting ideas in one day, and none that excite you for the next 100 days. I know enough entrepreneurs who will wait for the right idea and spend months agonising over whether it will be the one that ‘changes the world order’. That made me think and question my personal process of coming up with ideas, and what steps I follow to get my idea to see the light of the day.

FIRST, A CAVEAT I fall into the ‘good ideas, good execution, but not world changing’ bucket. If I were a baseball player, I’d be the ‘safe bet’ to get singles and doubles, and a rare home run. My ideas won’t work for everyone. They are purely in the ‘discipline, structure and process bucket’, not the stroke-of-genius bucket. So here is a condensed version of the process I follow:

OUTSIDERS DON’T NECESSARILY THINK OF THE IDEA IN THE CONTEXT OF EXISTING SOLUTIONS, WHEREAS EXPERTS OR ‘INSIDERS’ DO.

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

ideas

KEEP ASKING QUESTIONS It’s been well documented that good entrepreneurs are perennially curious. They like asking questions. Most of my questions have come because I have the discipline to train myself to have a heightened sense of observation. I like to notice everything around me and think. A combination of reading (blogs, books) and listening (to anyone, starting with the person sitting next to me at the airport or to my dad) helps me constantly formulate and process things around. I send text messages to myself with good questions and save other questions in the drafts folder of my cell phone. I try to keep a constant list of questions that bother me daily, many I have no answers to, but would like to ask others. My questions fall into two buckets: a) ‘Why’ questions and b) ‘What if’ questions. E.g. When I was thinking of the company BuzzGain, the question was, “Why does engaging a PR firm cost so much for a start-up and how can I reduce the cost”? With ‘Jivity’ (my social, commerce and brand merchandising company) it was: “Why does it cost so much to build a brand and can we do it in a less expensive fashion”? With my first company Interfinity it was, “What if we could reduce the time to configure a Cisco router by two hours”? These questions usually translate into ideas that can help answer the question.

FORMULATING IDEAS AND SEEKING ANSWERS I found that I get the most ideas from others, while asking them their opinion on a question that vexes me. They may not hand me the ideas on a platter, but many have helped me by asking the question differently or looking at the problem in a very different way. Many questions I asked were ones that were incorrect in the first place or those that I don’t really care about getting answers to. For BuzzGain, the outsiders were practically any entrepreneur or small business owner. I talked to about 200+ people over two

I GET MOST OF THE IDEAS FROM OTHERS, WHILE ASKING THEM THEIR OPINION ON A QUESTION THAT VEXES ME. THEY MAY NOT HAND ME THE IDEAS ON A PLATTER, BUT MANY HAVE HELPED ME BY ASKING THE QUESTION DIFFERENTLY months primarily by attending four events – a Bar Camp at SocialText, a Demo event at AdMob, Web 2.0 SF and lunch 2.0 at Oodle. I was not pitching the idea to outsiders, but asking the question that I was seeking ideas for. Usually at this stage, I develop a set of “filters”. I tend to write down 5-7 filters, and they are the lens I use, to determine if the question is worth answering, and if the idea is worth pursuing. A filter might be, “Are others also thinking these are questions worth answering?”, or “Can I get someone to help me understand how prevalent this problem is?” or “Is this an idea that answers the question in a very different way?” At this stage, none of the questions are really about market size or determining the size of the opportunity, but more about whether I am asking the right question and if the idea is the one worth pursuing. Another good technique I followed was, I sent a five-question summary using a free online survey tool to 200+ entrepreneurs and people I knew. I even offered a few Starbucks gift card to the five winners who participated in the survey. It provided enough incentive to get a 53 per cent response rate.

different ideas that I would tell the insider and ask them which one had ‘legs’. For BuzzGain, I had the opportunity to speak to over 20 insiders. Many immediately shot down three of the ideas, but told me to refine two of them that they thought had potential. When I did talk to the “insiders” I went with a mock-up. Initially, a set of 7 PowerPoint slides, which I had a friend convert into HTML (he later taught me how to do it with Dreamweaver) and took 3-5 minutes to walk them through it. I had 3 mock-ups for each of those ideas and showed all three to my insiders. They ended up picking some components from each to help me draw a new idea, that was what I felt was different and really addressing questions in a unique way. The questions I initially kept asking needed serious “thinking time”. I found a routine that works for me. Thinking time for me tends to be “alone”. I have heard several people ponder and think while they are in the shower, and others, when they go for long walks. I have tried the approach to set aside time for thinking and have enough questions to think about. The time that works best for me is, while doing laundry or doing dishes (yes, I did that when I was in America), and back in India, since I have a lot more time, travel time or while playing tennis is my best time for thinking. I also like to talk to others when I am in the advanced stages of thinking, so many times, I will take someone that works with me on a walk to discuss questions that need some ideas. The author is the CEO of Jivity, a social, commerce and brand merchandising company. He blogs at http://www.bestengagingcommunities.com

VALIDATION As opposed to the previous stage, where I reach out to practically anyone, the validation process is usually one that I test with experts. I have found that it is always better to go to experts after I go to the “outsiders” since they tend to give me more simple answers. Outsiders don’t necessarily think of the idea in the context of existing solutions, whereas experts or “insiders” do. I pitch only those ideas that have passed my filter criteria, and it was not unusual to have 3-5 JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

THE INCREDIBLES Today If India is bursting with commercial energy while other world economies are flat lining, somewhere we have our Small Businesses to thank. These Small Businesses’ have either hit on innovative ideas or tapped into economic trends that continue to fuel their growth. What they all have in common is that, they’ve learned to exploit their special strengths to persevere against competition, environmental challenges and lack of resources which may be a given in western world and yet there’s not a hint of mediocrity among them. The Top 100 Small Businesses for the year 2011 have been drawn from across a wide breadth of industries including retail, education, communications, healthcare, manufacturing, technology, financial services, and others. These Businesses’ which include both private and publicly held enterprise reflect the geographic, ethnic and gender mix of India. Women owned small businesses too are increasingly making their mark in the enterprise culture, even in such industries which are otherwise regarded as traditional male preserves. These Small businesses are, in effect, improving productivity and their positioning comes from a valuation of companies based on earnings growth, sales growth and return on equity in the past 12 months. Amongst those featured in Top 100 Some are household names, But many have toiled in obscurity for years -- tweaking their business models multiple times before finally hitting on winning formulas. To Salute this growing segment, we have dedicated and built our inaugural issue, by profiling the leading entrepreneurs in small businesses which are presently below 100 crore, however the businesses have the calibre to reach ten times the money they are making presently, with their junoon, jugaad and luck. We would be happy to hear from you on this maiden effort of ours. Send in your feedback to editorial@entrepreneurindia.org

CHETAS CONTROL SYSTEM

CONCEPTION

Ultrasonic Ways &KHWDV &RQWURO 6\VWHPV LV D OHDGLQJ ÁRZ LQVWUXPHQWDWLRQ FRPSDQ\ WKDW IRFXVHV RQ SURYLGLQJ WXUQNH\ VROXWLRQV LQ ZDWHU PDQDJHPHQW

Due to the water scarcity all over the country majority of Municipal Corporations and Water Boards are in loss due to very high Unaccounted for water (UFW) & Non Revenue Water (NRW) components in their network and to reduce these losses to a reasonable level, flow measurement is a must. Ultrasonic transit flow meters are the ideal tool to have the perfect water management of the city. Chetas Control innovated two types of Ultrasonic flow meter suitable for Indian water industry.

THE MODEL

TA K

In India, all this while, Liquid flow measurement has been through Electromagnetic technologies although Ultrasonic Doppler and Transit OON, JUG AAD A time technologies were introduced to N ND JU the world market in the 70s. The L ON ultrasonic technology did not In our business, gain much popularity because Junoon has prime of its high price and duty importance because without structures. Entrepreneur Junoon you cannot surpass the Mahesh Deshmukh knew the difﬁculties faced at each level in the gamut of the industry he was government departments. Luck plays in, and thereby concluded a very important role when a lot of that an ideal solution is hard work is invested into tendering Ultrasonic transit time flow business. Jugaad also has its own meter. importance, which is primarily

required during execution. FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING The initial investment for the project was from the entrepreneur’s salary and through a loan from the Bank of India. The break-even happened in 18 months.

SUCCESS STRATEGY The organisation leaders always keep the following points in mind: The product is important as well as its quality Maintenance and after service is also important. (This is the only leading organisation in India which gives service after supply, installation, commissioning and maintenance.) The service provided is for a long span of 5-7 years.

GROWTH & EXPANSION

SNAPSHOT Founder: Mahesh Deshmukh Age: 45 Year of Inception: 1989 City: Pune Number of Employees: 175 Awards/Recognitions: Best Young Entrepreneurs Award 2010 for Manufacturing Sector by SME Chamber of India

The targeted growth rate was achieved during 2010-11. Sales grew from ` 55 crore in March 2010 to ` 80 crore in 2011. This business idea is being canvassed to every municipal, industrial and irrigation sector so that the organisation also comes to know the exact status about their water management efficiency, and hence, plan accordingly. Till date, 25 Municipal Corporations have incorporated this model, and the plan of a further 3,000 would be achieved by 2015. JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

8KMILES SOFTWARE SERVICES

CONCEPTION

Solutions in the Cloud

During 2008 only bigger companies had the ability to do outsourcing and use the technology for growth; it’s then that entrepreneur Suresh Chari wanted to make that available for SME.

O KE

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THE MODEL ,J

Luck does play a part but only when you do put in your best efforts passionately.

AAD

AND L UC

8KMiles is an Internet company that is focused on building solutions around cloud computing. 8KMiles has two business units- 8KMiles Cloud Solutions offering cloud consulting, migration and cloud engineering solutions and 8KMiles Ecosystem that provides on-demand access to technology talent and cloud infrastructure.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING The total amount of investment, from its inception till date, is `12 crore.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT

Moves that keep the company going forward is the belief in the unique business model and growth opportunity

Founder: Suresh V Chari Age: 43, Year of Inception: 2008, City: Chennai, Number of employees: 80, Awards/Recognitions: Nasscom IT Innovator, Nasscom Top 10 Emerge Leader, Microsoft Start-up of the Day, IIM Incubate, Recognised by Amazon CTO and Stanford University.

GROWTH & EXPANSION With a growth of 150 per cent, the company is currently listed in BSE. Inclined for a global approach, it has offices in Singapore and the Middle East and is all set to explore Europe.

AISECT

CONCEPTION Entrepreneur Santosh Choubey foresaw the prospect to teach IT in regional languages. N,

K TA

E ON JUN O

The three determine the success that you are going to see in your organisation.

AISECT is an education, training and services network with over 8,500 centres spread across semi-urban and rural areas of 27 states and three union territories. It reaches out to the remotest corner of India and promotes ICT (Information and Communications Technology) based training and services to empower people, generate employment for the youth and unfold entrepreneurship-based initiatives to create an inclusive society.

THE MODEL

Promoting ICT in the Rural Areas AAD AN JU G D

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING The initial investment was a grant by the government; it was only eight years after inception that it became a profitable organisation.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Going through a learning curve and evolving successfully despite the challenges it faced Conviction, passion, perseverance and belief in one’s idea kept it going and

GROWTH & EXPANSION Growth has been about 60 per cent year-on-year. Around 30,000 new students in the network have been added with 2,500 new franchisees. Five years down, the organisation plans to take the number of centres to 15,000. 48

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

SNAPSHOT Founder: Santosh Kumar Choubey Age: 56, Year of Inception: 1985, City: Bhopal, Number of Employees: 900, Awards/Recognitions: ,QGLDQ ,QQRYDWLRQ $ZDUG *ROGHQ ,FRQ 1DWLRQDO H *RYHUQDQFH $ZDUG 1$66&20 ,7 ,QQRYDWLRQ $ZDUG

CHOPRA RETEC RUBBER PRODUCTS

CONCEPTION

The business was started by Late Mr J.C. Chopra (under the name Autoflex Pvt Ltd.) in 1970 when he bought a running unit for a meager amount of ` 1 Lakh. Kiron Chopra joined the family business after completing his graduation in Rubber Technology. The company then ventured into exports and started off by supplying to a company in Germany. Business grew in terms of orders, however, the 7KH FRPSDQ\ ZKLFK H[SRUWV LWV HQWLUH strong Indian Rupee killed all the margins and they SURGXFH WRGD\ LV KHDGHG E\ .LURQ decided to sell the company as a running business. In 1995 with the Rupee devalued, the buyers &KRSUD WKH &KDLUPDQ DQG 0DQDJLQJ came back for the quality and service they had 'LUHFWRU ZKR LV KLPVHOI D 5XEEHU been providing, and their first and principal buyer insisted on a commercial joint venture, where they 7HFKQRORJLVW IURP WKH 8. would invest and buy back whatever would G U A J AD A be produced. They grabbed the offer , O ON ND and Chopra Retec Rubber Products N L JU Limited was formed with Retec Junoon: N GmbH, Germany in 1996-97. An absolute must.

TAK

A One-Stop Source for All Car Parts

It stems out of self belief. We never believed we had competition. Luck: Very important ingredient for success, but of no use without the Junoon and Jugaad! We were usually acknowledged by our clients and referred to other companies.

THE MODEL

Chopra Retec Rubber Products Limited (CRRPL) is an SSI manufacturing unit, is ISO Certified, Dun and Bradstreet rated (SE 2A) and manufacturing predominantly niche application undercar parts for Exhaust Suspension and Ride Control for the passenger car aftermarket globally.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The company started with a paid up capital of ` 9 lakh and logged a turnover of ` 60 lakh in the first year itself, with a profit of ` 6 lakh, after paying bonuses to employees and dividend to shareholders in the first year; this has continued since.

SUCCESS STRATEGY The key strategy has been: Â&#x2021; 8S IURQW FRPPLWPHQW DQG DVVXUDQFHV DQG delivering the same has been their faithful pledge WKLV SDLG HDUO\ GLYLGHQG Â&#x2021; 7UDQVFHQGLQJ FXOWXUDO barrier and building business on relationships Â&#x2021; 1RW ORVLQJ D FOLHQW WR DQRWKHU VXSSOLHU RI VLPLODU SURGXFW Â&#x2021; 8QGHUWDNLQJ UHVHDUFK SODQQLQJ DQG strategy for continuous growth

SNAPSHOT

GROWTH & EXPANSION

Founder: Kiron Chopra Age: 57 Year of Inception: 1996-67 City: Lucknow Number of Employees: 100 Awards/Recognitions: Repeatedly awarded by the State *RYHUQPHQW IRU 7RS ([SRUW 3HUIRUPDQFH

Forty per cent growth was witnessed in the last one year. The USP for its growth revolves around the fact that it is able to supply specific application: ready-to-fit parts, for almost every make and model of a car built on this planet, from the 1960s till date, and supply competitively OEM quality parts at aftermarket prices; it is a single window supply source, waiting to be tapped by unrepresented markets. JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

CONCEPTION

CHALET SERVICES

The idea of a serviced apartment seemed to provide a good scope for conducting business with low cap-ex and low entry barrier. KE

JUNOON

THE MODEL

Home away from home

The business of Chalet Services is about providing quality stay, creating higher value perception for its customers such that the product is priced at least 30 per cent less than its perceived value.

AAD

AND L UC

I just follow my positive intention and all of these will follow as a factor of result

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The venture was started with a low investment of ` 3-4 lakh, which on rotation went close to `30 lakh by the end of the first year. The break-even is ongoing and achieved with about 35-40 per cent occupancy levels. K

SUCCESS STRATEGY Trying to become main back-end partner/vendor to all major relocation, travel agents, and real estate services company Releasing more hospitality products like furnished apartments, high-end guest houses, long stay options

SNAPSHOT

GROWTH & EXPANSION

Founder: Srinivas Subramanyam Age: 38 Year of Inception: 2006, City: Bangalore Number of Employees: 250+ Award: Bharath Vikas Ratna Award in hospitality 2011

From about a 250-room inventory, it is now close to a 550-room inventory, with presence in over 5 cities. The entrepreneur is also planning on a pan-India presence with over 1,200 room inventory, with revenues crossing ` 40 Crore by the financial year 2013.

CHATTERJEE CLEANING ARTS SERVICES

CONCEPTION

TA K E O N

I achieved was due to my knowledge and innovative quality and if you have the Junoon for anything, be sure you’ll achieve that.

The business is all about cleaning and maintenance of property. The organisational team is available in 600 cities across India and can clean and maintain anything such as – floor, wall, carpet, marble, public utilities, electrical, water management system, and air-conditioning, etc.

Cleansing Concept

JU G A A D A N D N, O L O Whatever

THE MODEL

An article inspired Debtosh Chatterjee to start a cleaning business of leasing of vacuum cleaners.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The initial investment was around ` 4,000. It took six months of its business operation to reach the break-even point and later on, it has managed through self and bank financing.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Following the clients from one location to the other to meet their requirements.

GROWTH & EXPANSION The entrepreneur witnessed huge growth in the last one year. Already the company has stepped to countries like Bhutan, Bangladesh and Qatar. Now it is planning to reach 100 crorebusiness in terms of revenue and lower the overhead/ backend cost up to 2 per cent of the revenue. 50

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

SNAPSHOT Founder: Debtosh Chatterjee Age: 39, Year of Inception: 1992 City: Kolkata, Number of Employees: 6500+ Awards: ICC (Indian Chamber of Commerce) Corporate Excellence Award

CHRIST NISHOTECH WATER SYSTEMS

CONCEPTION

Shoeb A. Kurawadwala came with the idea of producing safe and clean water for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, healthcare, cosmetics manufacturing, food and beverages companies as sustainable access to safe water was a challenge in many parts of the N U O J ON ON ,J country. E K UG

D A N D LU C

For me the three comes serially: Junoon, Luck and Jugaad.

Holy Water Supply!

THE MODEL Christ Nishotech provides pure water, using comprehensive spectrum of technologies which meets legal standards defined in pharmacopoeias.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

Kurawadwala started his venture with a capital of ` 45 lakh in 2003. And it took a year i.e., the first full year of operation to reach the break-even. At the initial stage he got financial help from a promoter. Since operations started growing, they resorted to bank loan.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT Founder: Shoeb A. Kurawadwala Age: 51 Year of Inception: 2003 City: Mumbai Number of employees: 95

As Kurawadwala says, his team always focuses on adoption to new technologies to produce high quality safe water in the field of ultra pure water production.

GROWTH & EXPANSION In the last year the company witnessed about 25 per cent growth in terms of sales. Now it is planning to set up its presence in North (Chandigarh) and South (Chennai) by establishing branch offices. As technology is upgrading, it is thinking of adding more machines to its manufacturing plant.

CHUMBAK

CONCEPTION Shubhra Chadda, an avid traveller loves to take home souvenirs from each new place she visits. She realised that people can’t find good quality fridge magnets in India, so decided to start her own company and aptly named it Chumbak. GAAD AND JU LU , N E ON JU NO

Junoon, Luck and Jugaad should come serially to our entrepreneurial journey

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Chumbak was born out of love for India and the love of travel. It became a way to take back a piece of India in the form of products like fridge magnets, key chains, t-shirts, bags, pens and books and various other stuff. The entrepreneur is running the business on shop-inshop model.

THE MODEL

Tagged with Chumbak

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

At the initial stage, the entrepreneur invested ` 40 lakh by selling her own house. Apart from that she got help from her family and friends. It took almost 1 year to reach the break-even point.

SUCCESS STRATEGY 3DVVLRQ IRU GRLQJ VRPHWKLQJ XQLTXH 5HFHLYLQJ HQFRXUDJHPHQW from family members at every step of her entrepreneurial journey

GROWTH & EXPANSION Since the first day of the business, the company witnessed huge success. Currently, its products retail at nearly 100 stores across the country and in the future it is looking at setting up its own store and becoming a leading souvenir brand, retailing at all the airports and tourist places in near future.

SNAPSHOT Founder: Shubhra Chadda & Vivek Prabhakar Age: 31 & 33 Year of Inception: 2010 City: Bangalore Number of Employees: 12 JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

EKO INDIA FINANCIAL SERVICES

CONCEPTION In 2002, Abhinav Sinha left Satyam and co-founded Six DEE Telecom Solutions, a telecom software product company. While at Six DEE, he had implemented m-commerce products and wondered why the focus was not on serving customers who had no bank accounts and cards. His dream was to promote mobile phones as a financial identity. When he won the TIE-Canaan Entrepreneurial Challenge, he decided it was time his idea - of every Indian having a bank account (irrespective of their strata) took shape, in the form of Eko India Financial Services.

A Bank Account for the Not So Wealthy

.HHSLQJ LWV IRFXV RQ 'HOKL 1&5 DQG %LKDU -KDUNKDQG (NR UHOLHV RQ WKH THE MODEL The company works on converting every business into PRVW EDVLF XVH RI PRELOH SKRQHV a low-cost distribution and payment infrastructure extension of banks, to enable instant ZKLFK LV GLDOLQJ RI QXPEHUV UHGXFLQJ , JU G A AD N small value financial transactions. O O AN XVDJH IULFWLRQ VLJQLĂ&#x20AC;FDQWO\ It functions as a Business UN D You need Junoon to persevere and chase perfection. You need Jugaad to get rolling ASAP and not let ideas gather dust. Well, after over a dozen occasions when the company could have shut down and it hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t, then you know that you are lucky!

TAK E

Correspondent and Service Provider to the State Bank of India as well as the ICICI Bank. The enterprise utilises light-weight mobile network technology that emulates the experience of a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Missed Callâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and works across Mobile Network Operators. This method was chosen because it relies on the most basic use of mobile phones which is dialing of numbers. It also requires minimal user education which reduces usage friction significantly.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING The initial funding was from a mixed bag - the founders, initial team members, friends and family who invested over ` 3 crore, with a break-even to be achieved soon. In 2010 it received a grant of $2 m from CGAP Technology Programme co-funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. By June 2011, the company had raised ` 30 crore in venture funding from Creation Investments and other investors.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT Founders: Abhinav Sinha & Abhishek Sinha Age: 30 & 34 Year of Inception: 2007 City: New Delhi Number of Employees: 100 Awards/Recognitions: NASSCOM - Emerge 50 (2010), PCQuest - Best IT Implementation (2010) and others 52

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

The big challenges were:1) establishing partner relationships with banks, 2) stabilizing our distribution and agent selection processes, 3) finding funding for expansion and 4) creating customer awareness about the legitimacy of the Business Correspondent as a legitimate arm of the bank. The idea to conserve cash, build the business model first, get break-even and thereafter, scale, has been its inner strength.

GROWTH & EXPANSION In 2011 the customer base grew from 40 k to over 900 k; processed transactions were worth over ` 1200 crore in 2010. The companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s team grew from around 35 to 100 people. The customer service point base grew from around 400 to 1500.

HUMMING BIRD CORPORATE TRAVEL & STAY

CONCEPTION

Making Corporate Travel Easy

Humming Bird is in the business of providing a range of accommodation solutions to corporate, making them competitive in the marketplace.

JU N

UGAAD AN D

TA K E O

N, J

THE MODEL LU With Corporate travel being the top three costs in Luck an most organisations, this is how Vivek and entrepreneur has Vinod saw a business prospect here, and the choice to be a decided to partner with the corporate to butterďŹ&#x201A;y catcher or focus help reduce their travel and stay cost, in the on building a garden, this form of their venture, Humming Bird (HB). way he will attract people, customers, money and FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING loyalty. The business was started with an amount of O NO

`3 lakh contributed by its promoters. The company was successful from the start as it saw profits from the very first month.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Its guiding philosophy has been to invest in long-term relationships with clients, guests, vendors and external partners.

SNAPSHOT Founder: Vivek Madappa & Vinod Thimmaya Age: 45, Year of inception: 2005 City: Bangalore, Number of employees: 120 + 300 outsourced, Awards/Recognitions: CII-EXIM Bank Award for Business Excellence 2011

GROWTH & EXPANSION The growth of the company has been laudable with a gain of 123 per cent.

HUSK POWER SYSTEMS

CONCEPTION Rural development ruled the mind of entrepreneur Gyanesh and getting together with his friends, he got Husk Power Systems up and running.

An Electrifying Idea! G

TA K E

D A N D LU C

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all about Junoon and Jugaad.

In 2007, the company got registered as an NGO and in 2008 as a company. Husk Power Systems also has a university for training the operators, mechanics and engineers. HPU operates in a distributed fashion through satellite training centres.

N O O N, JU

THE MODEL

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING Gyanesh and Ratneshâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s private money was used for R & D and to set up the first two plants. The next 10 odd plants were set up by a combination of the prize money, Govt Subsidy and grant from Shell Foundation. Later, they raised venture funding when they had about 15 plants. The company expects to reach break-even soon.

SUCCESS STRATEGY To invest in R & D and Training to mould unskilled people to do the grounds work.

GROWTH & EXPANSION At present, 350 villages in Bihar have benefited and the company is ready to expand to other areas - WB, north eastern states, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, etc. Internationally, it is looking to expand to South Asian, African and Latin American countries.

SNAPSHOT Founders: *\DQHVK 3DQGH\ VXSSRUWHG E\ 5DWQHVK <DGDY Manoj Sinha & Charles Ransler) Age: 35, Year of Inception: 2007, City: Bihar, Number of Employees: 400 $ZDUGV 5HFRJQLWLRQV Â&#x2021;2010 Tech Awards Laureate for â&#x20AC;&#x153;Economic 'HYHORSPHQWÂľ Â&#x2021; VW 3ODFH ')- &,6&2 *OREDO %XVLQHVV 3ODQ &RPSHWLWLRQ JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

RATNAGIRI IMPEX

CONCEPTION Vasudevamurthy had years of experience in the agriculture and plantation sectors. He, along with other like minded acquaintances (who are now the company’s Directors) decided to explore the possibility of mechanisation in plantation and agriculture, particularly for small and medium growers; thus Ratnagiri Impex was formed. N O U O J N N , JU EO THE MODEL G AK Ratnagiri Impex’s mission is to familiarise and equip the We want Indian growers and gardeners with latest technology and to accomplish a Hi-Tec equipments, making them competent in the highly particular task by putting competitive world. The company proudly exhibits its our constant effort and we Business Portability wherein a single person operated hidon’t wait for Luck. We tech gasoline or electrically operated equipments exist for rate them in the order of Agriculture, Horticulture and Plantation segments. Jugaad, Junoon, AA

Making Agriculture More Mechanised

N D LU C K

and Luck.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The initial fund was ` 30 lakh with break-even in a year.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT

*RSDOD .ULVKQD Director & CEO

Founder: S.A.Vasudevamurthy Age: 62 Year of Inception: 2000 City: Bangalore Number of Employees: 250

This 11-year-old entity came out successful despite many business KXUGOHV 5HVLVWDQFH IURP WKH DJULFXOWXULVWV WR DFFHSW WKH FRQFHSW as farmers had doubts about the efficiency and effectiveness of the HTXLSPHQWV 5HPDLQLQJ IRFXVHG DQG GHWHUPLQHG WR ZLQ WKH ZDU

GROWTH & EXPANSION The growth witnessed was 70 per cent with expansion plans being a full-fledged one. The plan is to launch organised retailing outlet called AGRIMA around March 2012.

HARVA

CONCEPTION Wanting to work for improving the lifestyle of rural India Ajay Chaturvedi launched a rural BPO called HarVa that believes in collective growth and in building strong relationships in the society.

At the initial stage Ajay invested INR 1.5 Cr. And now he is expecting the break-even will come with the current run rate in 6 months, essentially after 2 years of starting off.

TAKE ON J U

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

HarVa is a Socio-Capitalistic model that is focused on all Women Rural XPOs (BPOs), community farming, waste management, renewable energy, student helpdesks, medical helpdesks and microfinance.

THE MODEL

AAD AND JUG LU , ON Luck-Realising the true calling Junoon-Conviction that it will work when it hasn’t after 60 years of people striving. Jugaad-Making sure we survived the worst of conditions .

Farm to ÀUP PRGHO

SUCCESS STRATEGY To defeat resistance typical for a village women in India it took a lot of persistence to get these women to step out of their home.

GROWTH & EXPANSION

SNAPSHOT

HarVa witnessed 10 times growth in the last one year. They are looking forward to set up 100 centers across 100 village clusters Founder: Ajay Chaturvedi, Age: 37 (5-7 villages and 10k population each) across 20 states and Year of inception: 2010, City: *XUJDRQ employ 10,000 women in Rural XPOs, community farming Number of employees: 205 for over 10,000 acres of land, student helpdesks to aid over Awards: &1%& <RXQJ 7XUNV 'UHDP 'HFDGH UG 10 million students, medical helpdesks to aid over 1 million 0RVW ,QQRYDWLYH &RPSDQ\ LQ ,QGLD E\ )DVW &RPSDQ\ 0DJD]LQH patients in diagnostic services. 54

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

GENERATION FOUR ENGITECH

CONCEPTION

Generating Heat Transfer Fluids

Generation Four Engitech manufactures a hundred percent silicon-based green synthetic heat transfer fluid that carries heat from one point of generation to other points of utilisation of heat. It is just , J U G A like transfer of water from one reservoir OON AD to different points. The difference is N JU that the hot thermic fluid goes on Our circulating in the system in the Junoon is a process of carrying heat from prime mover, yet the source, that is, boiler to the luck plays its role. application points. The company Jugaad - we do manufactures 100 per cent not believe in. synthetic thermic fluid with silicon additive that prevents sticking and formation of carbon deposits. This enhances life of the fluid.

UCK

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THE MODEL

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While working with a textile processing plant, Dhansukh Chopra noticed that poor heat transfers in thermo pack boiler over time, were mainly due to its mineral based heat transfer fluid. At that time, he had a remote idea of making Silicone green synthetic thermic fluid. And he knew that efficient synthetic heat transfer fluids were being developed in U.S.A. This idea triggered the formation of Generation Four Engitech Ltd.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

Initially, the entrepreneur invested ` 150 lakh and in around 18 monthsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; period, his business could reach to break-even. And at the initial stage, he collected the entire fund from his family and relatives.

SUCCESS STRATEGY To overcome entry hurdles, the company has adopted the following policy: Â&#x2021; Sell the products to well known big companies. His team demonstrated the product strength by testing at customers sites Â&#x2021; Their strategy of pro-active services paid them good dividends and brand building strategy gave a lot of boosts

GROWTH & EXPANSION

SNAPSHOT

The growth of the company in the last one year was about 200 per cent. And its clientele network is already expanding and doubling every six months. Now the entrepreneur is also planning to add 2-3 new products next year.

Founder: Dhansukh Chopra Age: 37 Year of Inception: 2009 City: Jodhpur Number of Employees: 30 Awards/Recognitions: Manufacturing business of the year (Micro) Small Business Awards 2011 JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

CONCEPTION

Hungry Kya?

Anyone from anywhere could be the customer who feels hungry anytime throughout the day. Yes, that is the business model of Justeat.in, earlier it was named as Hungryzone.com a brand under Achindra Online Marketing Pvt. ltd.

E ON JU NO K TA

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AD AND

Junoon is a must while Jugaad is an option and luck is a bonus!

LU CK

JUSTEAT.IN

THE MODEL Justeat.in is a reliable and an effective platform for foodies. It is a one stop shop to discover restaurants, read or write reviews and more importantly, order food or reserve tables for free.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING It ran as a thoroughly bootstrapped company for almost two years till they raised their first round of investment in 2008. They broke even in the seventh month of operations.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Â&#x2021; :RUNLQJ KDUG WR EXLOG D WHDP RI HPSOR\HHV ZLWK ULJKW DWWLWXGH DQG FRPPLWPHQW Â&#x2021; %XLOGLQJ D VPRRWK QHWZRUN RI UHVWDXUDQWV

SNAPSHOT Founder: Ritesh Kumar Dwivedy Age: 30 Year of Inception: 2006 City: Bangalore Number of Employees: 50

GROWTH & EXPANSION Hungryzone.com partnered with Justeat, a UK company which is an online food ordering portal with its wings spread over 13 countries. So the entrepreneur decided to rebrand to Justeat.in from Hungryzone.com. Since then he has seen a growth of 30 per cent month on month. Now, it is looking forward to be present in all Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities by the end of 2012.

KNOWLARITY COMMUNICATIONS

CONCEPTION Pallav Pandey struck with the idea to build a hosted telephony-based business product started Knowlarity with cloud telephony-based solutions.

THE MODEL

E ON JU NO O

The organisation has been funded by a group of angel investors, with an investment of $ 1.8 million. Within a span of 18 months after its foundation, the company reached break-even. Later, it did a campaign for Naveen Patnaik (CM of Orissa) and used that money to initially set up its base.

Junoon is like Brahmathe Creator, Jugaad is like Vishnu - and Luck is required to please Mahesh.

K TA

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

Knowlarity makes business telephony intelligent and accessible for SME in emerging markets. The entrepreneur launched multiple hosted telephony products - Superfax, Superreceptionist, and Superconference, etc. targeted towards businesses of various sizes.

Providing Cloud Telephony-based AD AND UGA LU Solutions ,J

SUCCESS STRATEGY Â&#x2021; $FTXLULQJ FXVWRPHUV WKURXJK D FRPSHWLWRU SURGXFW Â&#x2021; &UHDWLQJ D ORFN LQ ZLWK FXVWRPHU E\ RZQLQJ WKH EXVLQHVV QXPEHU DQG Â&#x2021; &XVWRPLVHG VHUYLFH experience and localised support of partners

GROWTH & EXPANSION

SNAPSHOT

The company developed a platform for the Government of Uttar Pradesh for their Mid-Day Meal Programme. It helped the Government there by Founder: Pallav Pandey, Age: 33 setting up an automated telephone-based system to monitor the Year of Inception: 2009 mid-day meal programme for 1,50,000 schools, where food is made City: *XUJDRQ Number of Employees: 5 for lakhs of children every day. This year, the organisational team Awards/Recognitions: Red Herring Top 100 will target the 1.4 crore SME market in India. The company has $VLD 7HFK 6WDUWXS $HJLV *UDKDP %HOO $ZDUGV already built up a stellar team and product portfolio. 56

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

KONKAN SPICES & CURRY MAKERS

CONCEPTION

Add some spice to your life!

Balbina Pintoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s research on spices and condiments led to the start of her venture Konkan Spices & Curry Makers.

THE MODEL Konkan Spices & Curry Makers is all about creating complete compounded blended spices, herbs, rubs, A ND N seasonings, marinades and mixes. It creates and JU Junoon is customises products to suit the end user in homes, the nasha that keeps restaurants, corporate kitchens, caterers and food me going no matter courts, etc. CK

TA K E

JU GA AD

N, OO

what. To meet targets you have to do Jugaad otherwise perish in the long run. I look at Luck as positivity.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The entrepreneur invested around ` 20 lakh and achieved break-even by 2005. The business itself has funded for its growth and where there was a shortfall she used her own funds. She sold a small portion of her property to raise funds.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Focusing on thorough research and development of the products.

SNAPSHOT Founder: Balbina Pinto Age: 51 Year of Inception: 2003 City: Mumbai Number of Employees: 11

GROWTH & EXPANSION The entrepreneur witnessed a fairly good growth. She developed a unique product for a noodle manufacturer. Now she is planning to have large plant automated machinery within a year. She also has plans for starting a fast food chain exclusively for the rural areas in Maharashtra.

MAS INFOTAINMENT

CONCEPTION

E ON JUN TA K

Mas infotainment develops technology-based business applications and services such as Dial Desk, i-Spark Payroll, Nimantran, and Atithi which help in either saving cost or enhancing productivity of the organisation.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

GAAD AND

Working for the MSME market

It is all about 70% passion, 20% Jugaad and 10% Luck while Jugaad is the child of his passion only.

THE MODEL

Entrepreneur Deepak Kashyap came up with the business idea that would focus only on providing solutions to MSME through effective use of available technology.

As the company is the sister concern of Mas Callnet India (P) ltd, the parent company is bearing the cost for the last two years; and the entrepreneur also invested his own money at the initial stage.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Technology and vendor tie-up has also played a crucial role in rolling out the solutions successfully

GROWTH & EXPANSION The sales team has acquired more than 50 customers for various revenue streams and already has a recurring revenue base of around ` 7 lakh per month and an average of ` 2 lakh of nonrecurring revenue base. Now the entrepreneur is planning to expand geographically, both in international and national markets through a network of segmental franchise and branches.

SNAPSHOT Founder: Deepak Kashyap Age: 37 Year of Inception: 2009 City: Delhi Number of Employees: 40 JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

IDIOM DESIGN & CONSULTING

Designing Businesses ,GLRP RQH RI ,QGLDÂˇV ODUJHVW LQWHJUDWHG GHVLJQ SUDFWLFHV ZRUNV LQ WKH DUHDV RI EXVLQHVV GHVLJQ EUDQG LGHQWLW\ DQG YLVXDO FRPPXQLFDWLRQV FRQVXOWLQJ ODUJH FRUSRUDWLRQV DQG VPDOO EXVLQHVVHV DOLNH

CONCEPTION Design business in India was a boutique operation led by individual designers. Even today design is associated with the aesthetics and with beautifying things. Idiom saw the potential of leveraging design thinking to unlock business potential and therefore redefine the idea of design.

THE MODEL Sonia Manchanda, a graduate from Ahmedabadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s National Institue of Design (NID) followed her dreams and started Esign, a design firm focused on environment. In 2005, Esign was working on projects for Future Group. Tessaract, run by Jacob Mathew, who was Soniaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s senior at NID, was also working independently on Future Group projects. Kishore Biyani wanted design to play

SNAPSHOT Founders: *LULVK 5DM 6RQLD 0DQFKDQGD -DFRE 0DWKHZ Year of inception: 2005 City: Bangalore Number of employees: 100

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

a larger role. Realising this, Jacob and Sonia decided to reinvent their companies. Both of them integrated Esign and Tessaract and Idiom was born. Soniaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s husband, Girish Raj, who is good at business strategy, also joined them as co-founder.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING The initial investment was under $1 million which was self generated. Kishore Biyani was their mentor and investor.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Clientsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; limited understanding of the potential of design was one of the biggest hurdles for Idiom. Lack of appropriate talent was another twinge point. Idiom has had to train every individual in the organisation to unlearn and adopt the new way to thinking and working. Idiomâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s singular focus in being custodians of and partners in growth of clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business has yielded many design evangelists. They, in turn, have reciprocated by engaging Idiom more and spreading the word that led to the growth of the business. Today Idiom is associated as a business design consultant with large corporations such as the Future Group, Manipal Education and Medical Group, People Combine, Royal Orchid Hotels and TVS motors.

NEW AGE KNOWLEDGE SOLUTIONS

CONCEPTION

Offering Solutions in Education

Arun Khetan was always fascinated with the idea to create and explore, and his experience in the education and franchising field imparted him the opportunity to understand the huge potential available in the segment of education.

K TA

E ON JU NOO

N, THE MODEL J Nurturing The company primarily aims to offer solutions across multiple of the passion levels in education. Within two years the company has set up a is always enhanced network of around 250 franchisees across India. It caters to by executing in a smart domains like early Childhood Education & Care (I Play I way, hence, a fair amount Learn), Tutoring Model (tutoring model) and Virtual of Jugaad is always Classroom coaching for high-end exams (Learn Live). worthy for warranting success. FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING AA

D A N D LU C K

The entire funding so far has been by self, friends and relatives, and also from the on-going profits from the enterprise.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT Founder: Arun Khetan Year of Inception: 2009 City: Mumbai Number of Employees: 100+

The strategies, which add to its growth quotient are continuous upgradation and implementing transparent and structured communication flow through policies and work procedures.

GROWTH & EXPANSION By the end of this financial year, the organisation will touch 160 ‘I play I Learn’ schools, which it targets to cross 500+ by March 2015, with approx. 35,000-40,000 kids and almost 400 numbers of ‘The Scholars Hub’ with approx. 35,000-40,000 students. In addition, the company has planned to add 25 more ‘Learn Live’ domains by 31st March.

NIRVANA LIVE (NOMADS)

CONCEPTION Hitesh Kataria, Sumedhas Rajgopal and Chirag Jain got the business idea from golgappas. Making relationship with AAD AN JU G D like-minded people is the way of their business. L N,

Nomads is a crowd of like-minded people who are travellers with similar interests. The Nomads travellers stay on to become friends and they meet regularly over coffee and wine for jam sessions, poetry reading evenings, etc.

O TA K E N J U N

Junoon i.e. GOD is the ultimate truth for us. Jugaad, luck and others are mere manifestations much like Ram, Allah or Jesus

THE MODEL

Travel-to-gather

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING Not much capital was invested at the initial stage. Since then they have been looking to scale up and discover opportunities in the market. Nomads is being funded from friends and relatives to maintain logistics and coordinate operations.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Use travel as a tool to gather like-minded people together. To be true to what we set out to do” became their driving strategy

GROWTH & EXPANSION Nomads has become an active group of over 85 individuals who regularly communicate. From young college goers and professionals the company is now looking to offer interesting travel ideas to families, corporate, larger groups and schools and colleges.

SNAPSHOT Founder: Hitesh Kataria, Sumedhas Rajgopal & Chirag Jain Age: 23, 23 and 22, respectively Year of Inception: 2010 City: Bangalore, Number of Employees: 4 JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

CONCEPTION

Providing Medical Imaging Solutions

Dr. Ashish Dhawad equipped with the knowledge of biology, informatics, and genetics, decided to develop and enhance healthcare. Along with Dr. Prashant Lahane, this idea evolved into the formation of Medsynaptic Pvt. ltd.

O KE

N J U N O O N,

D A N D LU C

The company has a complete suite of ‘end to end’ medical imaging solutions. Stand alone products like SonoDoc & ScopyDoc for Ultrasound Image Management and Endoscopy Image Management, ScanDoc Workstation for multiple modalities. It pioneers the development in low bandwidth Teleradiology in India wherein the user can download large volumes of data in seconds.

Junoon is absolutely necessary as it indicates your inherent passion.

THE MODEL

J UG

MEDSYNAPTIC

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The initial amount invested was ` 1 lakh, which broke-even in the second year of operation. Till date, the entire venture has been funded by internal accruals and most of the profits have been ploughed back into the business, making it a proud debt-free organisation.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT

Cost cutting, forecasting, patient data search and management

GROWTH & EXPANSION Founder: Dr. Ashish Dhawad & Dr. Prashant Lahane India being the primary target, the company plans to go global Age: both 36, Year of Inception: 2004 soon, with the current focus being Middle East, South East Asia City: Pune, Number of Employees: >90 and Africa. Its foothold in USA is to materialise soon, with the Awards/Recognitions: NASSCOM Emerge 50 Company company’s products approved by USA FDA. and Red Herring Asia Top 100 Start-up

NEVER GROW UP

CONCEPTION The inspiration for this venture came from Asif Upadhye’s experiences in the corporate front. J

A bit of Jugaad and lots of Junoon results in some great luck.

K TA

E ON JU NO

Building Employee Productivity

‘Never Grow Up’ is a business enterprise into the field of employee engagement by partnering with and consulting HR Managers and CEOs. It offers fun workshops, besides addressing internal communication needs, developing quirky merchandise, building reward programs and even helping people redesign their cubicles/offices.

THE MODEL

AD AND UGA

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The initial seed capital was ` 9 lakh. The company has achieved a break-even within 1.3 years of its launch and has already crossed the turnover from last year (FY 10-11) in the first two quarters of FY 11-12. The founder has invested his personal savings.

SUCCESS STRATEGY &RQVWDQW LQQRYDWLRQ 'HYHORSLQJ D VRXQG XQGHUVWDQGLQJ RI WKH FRQVXPHU HPSOR\HH %HLQJ DEOH WR RIIHU VROXWLRQV WKDW ¶FRQQHFW DQG OHDYH D PDUN· DQG &XVWRPLVHG VHUYLFH LGHDV

GROWTH & EXPANSION This business has witnessed over 70 per cent growth in the last one year. In the next three years, its founder intends to scale his business and increase the sources of revenue by developing alternate channels. 60

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

SNAPSHOT Founder: Asif Upadhye Age: 31 Year of Inception: 2010 City: Mumbai Number of Employees: 5

KIMAYA FASHION

CONCEPTION

Fuelling Fashion 3UDGHHS +LUDQL WHVWHG KLPVHOI LQ WKH ODUJHO\ LJQRUHG \HW GHPDQGLQJ FUXFLEOH RI WKH IDVKLRQ ZRUOG DQG VXFFHVVIXOO\ VHW XS KLV ÀUVW UHWDLO YHQWXUH DOPRVW D GHFDGH DJR

Indian fashion has grown drastically in the last decade. However, there has been a huge divide between the demand and supply of designer wears in the country. During the year 2002, disposable income was rising and people had the taste and the means, but access was limited. Entrepreneur Pradeep Hirani, therefore, started Kimaya Fashion with the intention of filling this gaping void.

THE MODEL

TA K

Kimaya Fashion houses edited collections of the top-notch designers of the country and the world, and makes them available G to fashion aficionados and the ON, J U A A D A ND O N LU JU CK discerning clientele. When business ON commenced, this business house For anything became the first luxury fashion you do in life, passion is house to up the scale with a indispensible, so Junoon tops massive designer portfolio, of my list. Luck is God’s way of telling over 180 names. It owns retail you that you are his favourite child, footprints of 35,000 plus but then – God helps those who help square feet across India and themselves and Luck only favours the Dubai. brave. We don’t believe in Jugaad,

there is only one path to success and that is of truth and honesty; there is no easy way out.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The business was started with an initial investment of around Rs1 lakh. The break-even was reached within six months.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Kimaya means magic in ‘Pushtu’ and during the last decade, the company lived up to its name by adhering to the following: )RUPLGDEOH PDQDJHPHQW DQG RSHUDWLRQV team that comprises domain experts from various demographics that has made panIndia penetration and international presence IHDVLEOH 0DLQWDLQLQJ LWV SRVLWLRQ E\ EHLQJ miles ahead of its competitors in terms of size, returns, scale, footprint, reach and popularity.

GROWTH & EXPANSION

SNAPSHOT Founder: Pradeep Hirani Age: 40, Year of Inception: 2002 City: Mumbai Number of Employees: 300 Awards/Recognitions: Small Trade Retail Business of the year 2010

The company being strong promoters of franchise format of business has excelled in growth and expansion significantly. With the recent investment received from Franklin Templeton Private Equity Strategy, it is confident its presence would be amplified in the world. With its e-commerce site, it plans to offer consolidated inventory and merchandise from all the stores to the net savvy digital consumers.

JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

PINK DREAMS STUDIO: ZARIIN

CONCEPTION

Jewellery in Sync with the East &West

Sisters Vidhi and Mamta realising that Indian fashion was making a score on the global fashion arena, launched Zariin, the jewellery brand under the banner of Pink Dreams Studio.

JU N,

THE MODEL G A A D A N D LU Zariin is a luxury fashion jewellery brand that uses CK

TA K E

semi precious stones in lush gold settings catered for Junoon the cosmopolitan women. Their portfolio of is the most jewellery comprises statement as well as everyday important element, wear necklaces, earrings, rings, bracelets, etc. because without Junoon Creative fusion along with flawless quality is the (passion), you are uninspired. USP of the brand. From Seed Fund to Funding Luck is the next most important The seed fund was ` 10 lakh and the break-even ingredient to success, as it brings happened in just 8 months. you to the right time at the right place. Jugaad could be an SUCCESS STRATEGY added ďŹ&#x201A;avour but not vital Â&#x2021; 4XDOLW\ IRFXV DGDSWLRQ WR FKDQJH SDVVLRQ DQG or necessary. NO

love for oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work was their success strategy

GROWTH & EXPANSION

SNAPSHOT Founders: 9LGKL *XSWD 0DPWD *XSWD Age: 26 & 30, Year of Inception: 2010 City: Delhi Number of Employees: 6

Increase in participation in trade shows, particularly in Europe and Paris, is their growth strategy. A manufacturing unit is to be initiated with a team of designers and work is to be outsourced to low-cost countries like Indonesia. The showroom in Delhi is currently under construction in the DLF Saket Mall. With the platform once set, the e-commerce site will be launched which will ship the brand worldwide.

YOU LOOK GREAT

CONCEPTION Rahul Bhalachandra pursuing his interest in health and beauty retail and realising the potential for salons in India, created You Look Great (YLG).

THE MODEL

AD AND

U Longterm passion keeps the entrepreneur going. And Luck is to be at the right place at the right time.

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The entrepreneur had been studying the market for the last 6-7 years owing to his previous jobs at Future Group and Health & Glow. The business took off in 2008 with the first salon opened in Bangalore in 2009. He even started a training academy in 2007 to have the right manpower in place. This year, the company expects to reach a break-even.

J N,

A Glowing Business

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING The entrepreneur started this company with venture capital funding. He was lucky enough to get funding before he opened his first salon, as it was a sector in which Helion was interested at that point of time. With a fairly detailed plan, the funding took place.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Â&#x2021; 7KLQNLQJ DQG EXLOGLQJ WKH RUJDQLVDWLRQ IURP 'D\ 2QH Â&#x2021; 7KH FKRLFH RI KDYLQJ \RXU RZQ WUDLQLQJ FHQWUHV

GROWTH & EXPANSION YLG presently has 19 salons in Bangalore. Right now the company is growing at the rate of 40 per cent and has doubled the number of stores in last year. Rahul plans to have 50 stores in the next two years and would be looking at the second round of funding soon. For expansion, YLG is planning a reasonable mix of company owned and franchised salons. 62

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

SNAPSHOT Founder: Rahul Bhalachandra Age: 39 City: Bangalore Year of Inception: 2008 Number of Employees: 40-45

WESTWOOD LIFESTYLES

CONCEPTION

Home DĂŠcor Art Studio

Entrepreneur Armaan Siddiqui started Westwood Lifestyles, a home dĂŠcor art studio after doing internship in Europe with a wholesaler/importer that was into conceptual selling of lifestyles, taking the concept to the Indian masses.

THE MODEL Westwood Lifestyles has five brands under two verticals. The first vertical is furniture for which â&#x20AC;&#x153;Westwoodâ&#x20AC;? is the brand and the second vertical is home dĂŠcor accessories. The wooden furniture is manufactured by Evergreen in India. The carpets are sourced from India. The rest is sourced from from Romania, Poland, Italy, France and Germany. The company is a launch pad of new talent and does conceptual selling rather than just retail selling. The recently launched â&#x20AC;&#x153;Design Centerâ&#x20AC;? is now open at all the stores, which assists end consumers to set up their house.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING By far, Evergreen Exports has been funding the business. The company will soon look at Private Equity in the near future and an IPO in the long run.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT Founder: Armaan Siddiqui Age: 23 City: Delhi Year of Inception: 2010

Â&#x2021; *LYLQJ 9DOXH $GGHG VHUYLFHV WR LWV FRQVXPHUV ZKLFK JLYHV LW DQ HGJH LQ the market

GROWTH & EXPANSION With a fine blend of COCO & COFO formats, Westwood plans to go pan-India within this decade. It also plans to distribute its smaller brands in Multi-Brand Outlets (MBOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s) since it has exclusive brand license to distribute in South Asia.

EXPERT VOICETAP TECHNOLOGIES N

THE MODEL The idea in principle is to create a one stop number where people can dial and connect with relevant people of their choice on topics of their choice. The platform creates a win-win situation for experts, businesses and end users.

L In my opinion, nothing would even exist without passion â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Jugaad is what will help you ďŹ ght Murphy. Being lucky is just a state of mind.

JU TA K E O N

Mrignak Tripathi wanted to build something out of mobile value added services. Hence, Voicetap materialised.

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CONCEPTION

N, J

A Voice Trail

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING Tripathi pooled in his savings and invested close to Rs15 lakh. He later raised about ` 2 crore from angel investors and by that time had already started generating revenues.

SUCCESS STRATEGY The real key is to keep building and perfecting the product with the help of consumer feedback, while not losing your focus from revenues.

GROWTH & EXPANSION Voicetap is currently present in two continents and it aims to be a $100 million revenue generating company with presence in 20 countries in the next five years.

SNAPSHOT Founder: Mrigank Tripathi Age: 34, City: New Delhi, Year of Inception: 2009, Number of Employees: 19, Awards/Recognitions: Red Herring Asia 100 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2009 [Youngest Company Ever], Nasscom League of 10, 2010 JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

HAPPILY UNMARRIED AD AN UGA D If you pursue your dreams they magically turn into reality.

ON JUNOON

The Happily Unmarried Duo

+DSSLO\ 8QPDUULHG PDNHV IXQ SURGXFWV GRHV PXVLF IHVWLYDOV ZRUNV ZLWK FRUSRUDWHV DQG GRHV D ORW RI SURMHFWV LQYROYLQJ EUDQGLQJ FRPPXQLFDWLRQ LQWHULRUV DQG PDUNHWLQJ CONCEPTION Being young singles, both Rajat Tuli & Rahul Anand had difficulty finding accommodation, buying gifts or even spending leisure time as everything in the country is targeted towards families. Realising the need for a company which keeps the young segment as its core target audience the duo brought up the idea of Happily Unmarried.

THE MODEL Happily Unmarried retails products which make life more appealing. Presently, there are three franchised outlets apart from that the products are sold in over 60 outlets across 17 cities and in 6-7 online shopping sites. Around 23 designers work on the various products. The

SNAPSHOT

Founders: Rajat Tuli & Rahul Anand Age: 36 & 37, Year of inception: 2003 City: New Delhi, Number of employees: 20 Awards/Recognitions: Rajat Tuli was awarded the young design entrepreneur award by the British council in 2009

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

company also conducts a live music festival annually, which is on its seventh year now.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING The Company for which Rajat & Rahul were working went bust and did not pay the salaries for about six months by then both had become obsessed with the idea of happily unmarried and wanted to start come what may. The only thing of value they had was a laptop which they pawned for ` 50,000 and started. Since the start up capital was very small the company broke even in the first year itself.

SUCCESS STRATEGY For the founders explaining people about the kind of products they wanted to make was difficult. There was no previous benchmark to explain what they meant by contemporary Indian design done in a fun way.

GROWTH & EXPANSION Going forward the expansion is set for the next three years to strengthen the online business, increase the corporate segment and expand in a big way by offering franchising opportunities. With a small presence in Paris, Melbourne and a few stores in London the company is in close talks regarding distribution in the gulf region

TRADEBRIEFS

CONCEPTION

Satisfying the Information Need

Sree Vijaykumar started TradeBriefs as a flexible platform where people get just the information they need on a regular basis.

TradeBriefs is a tool that enables customers to stay informed, get industry expertise and move ahead in A their business and careers. It carves out information E Junoon niches based on subscriber feedback and the is number one. company’s own research, and provides daily and Without Junoon, weekly briefs to its subscribers with a sharp no amount of luck and editorial focus on these areas. Jugaad will help. Junoon ON

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THE MODEL O ON, JU GA JUN

is what keeps you going when times get tough and for a start-up, times are tough.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

Initially the entrepreneur invested ` 10 lakh and it took a year of operation to reach the break-even point.

SUCCESS STRATEGY (QJDJLQJ WKH VXEVFULEHUV E\ RIIHULQJ UHOHYDQW DQG LQWHUHVWLQJ content %XLOGLQJ HGLWRULDO VWUHQJWK

SNAPSHOT

Founder: Sree Vijaykumar Age: 33, City: Mumbai, Year of Inception: 2008 Number of Employees: 12 , Awards: Winner at the A Lorne Weil Outrageous Business Plan Competition held at Columbia University, New York in 2007

GROWTH & EXPANSION In the last one year, the entrepreneur witnessed 50 per cent growth in his enterprise. Now he wants to create hundreds of niche portals that satisfy the information needs of millions of people through comprehensive yet focused content.

TOWN ESSENTIALS

CONCEPTION Amar realised there was a requirement for professionally-organised supplier of groceries to commercial kitchens. and hence, laid the foundation for Town Essentials.

THE MODEL

K TA

N JU N O O N, J UG A

Ensuring Quality in Essential Supplies A

D Town Essentials supplies groceries, fruits A Junoon: and vegetables to commercial kitchens. is the fuel that will The products are tested and graded drive you in your toughest according to their cooking times. characteristics. The customer is Jugaad: There are two kinds of ensured of indisputable quality and Jugaad, ethical and non-ethical. consistency of products, thereby It is important to draw the line and assisting the customer in achieving ensure your values remain in place. perfection in the kitchen. Luck: Something one should not

The seed fund was ` 30 lakh; it took seven years to break-even.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

think about because you don’t have control over it.

SUCCESS STRATEGY &KRRVLQJ WKH ULJKW FXVWRPHUV DQG HGXFDWLQJ customers 8QFRQGLWLRQDO VXSSRUW IURP NH\ HPSOR\HHV

GROWTH & EXPANSION The growth experienced is 20 per cent and the company’s expansion plan is to leap into the ‘Business to Consumer’ domain in Bangalore.

SNAPSHOT Founder: Amar K. Murthy Age: 44 City: Bangalore Year of Inception: 2002 Number of Employees: 50 JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

VIVA INFOMEDIA PVT. LTD

CONCEPTION

Communicating the Digital Way

Vikram Raichura entered into digital marketing as it was the need of the hour and formed a venture called Viva Infomedia Pvt. ltd.

THE MODEL

Viva Infomedia is known as an enterprise communication company. It TA K E O N provides business communication solutions through all JU N possible digital mediums-e-mail, mobile, voice, etc. to ensure delivery of the message to the right target Jugaad is audience and in a way that is understood by all, all about what breaking all language barriers. N,

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market demands. And understanding the marketing demands is Junoon or passion that one ďŹ rmly carries. And Luck follows one in whatever one wants to do.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The entrepreneur had invested approximately ` 1.5 lakh in his e-commerce portal at the earliest stage of his entrepreneurial journey. It took one-and-a-half year to reach the break-even point. Later on, whatever that was invested in the venture, came from the profits of his business.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT Founder: Vikram Raichura Age: 32, City: Mumbai, Year of Inception: 2001 Number of Employees: 50+ Awards: CNBC Tv-18 Emerging India Award Winner 2009

Â&#x2021; :LOOLQJQHVV WR ZRUN DQG SURYLQJ WKH SRLQW WKDW QRWKLQJ LV GLIILFXOW Â&#x2021; 7DSSLQJ RSSRUWXQLWLHV

GROWTH & EXPANSION The company witnessed 60-70 per cent growth in the business in the last one year from 1st August 2010 to 31st July 2011. Now it is planning to cater to the biggest corporate houses in India and then gradually taking it across the globe.

VIDTEQ

CONCEPTION Chandra Thimmannagari was always fascinated with the field of Navigation and explored the idea of having video clip of the entire route as a hassle- free solution through the formation of VidTeq.

Navigation via Video J N,

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Luck does play an important role.

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The 3-year-old company provides Navigation, Location and Local Search. Video Maps, Digital Maps and Search database for Navigation and Locational needs being their unique patented products. At present, the website www.vidteq.com has a free video direction for Bangalore city. The technology facilitates retail chains, real estate, tourists, businessmen and individuals from all walks of life.

E ON JU NO O

THE MODEL

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The initial investment was ` 2 crore which broke-even in three years.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Â&#x2021; 7KH LQYLQFLEOH GHVLUH RI ZRUNLQJ RQ VRPHWKLQJ ZKLFK ZRXOG KHOS the masses

GROWTH & EXPANSION

SNAPSHOT

The company has seen an exponential growth within three years of its inception and having recently received Founder: Chandra Thimmannagari (Co-founder) funding from KITVEN; the entrepreneur plans to use Age: 41, City: Bangalore, Year of Inception: 2008 this fund for expansion. The latest priority is Number of Employees: 25 expanding to Chennai and Hyderabad. The year 2011 Awards/Recognitions: Â&#x2021; %HVW 6WDUWXS $ZDUG DW 6LOLFRQ ,QGLD would see the company expanding to the rest of 6WDUWXS (YHQW Â&#x2021; 1$66&20 (PHUJH Tier1 cities. 66

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

FLORISTA INDIA

CONCEPTION

A Rosy Affair

Florista is one of the fastest growing online and offline professional flower retailer of the country with a dedicated customer care facility and 25 retail outlets present in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Vapi and J U G A A D Bharuch. Florista’s product range ON, AN includes exotic floral arrangements O UN of fresh and artificial flowers along Junoon, with wine, fruits, cake, chocolates Jugaad and and soft toys. Florista’s array of Luck work in the services includes national and same order for Smriti international deliveries, weddings to get this ﬂowery & car decoration, corporate events affair right. & office inaugurations, flowers at offices and homes and festive décor. LU

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THE MODEL

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Smriti’s husband Sameer Dalvi, who owns an advertising business, was once waiting for a meeting at the reception of a large multinational office. Spotting a shabbily dressed boy delivering flowers in the plush office made him realise the possibility of having flower deliveries in an organised and professional manner. The idea blossomed in the form of Florista.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING With own personal savings, and of family and friends, Smriti invested ` 45,000 initially to start the business. Funds were difficult to come by since the business was about flowers and product being perishable in nature; it was difficult to get bank loans initially.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Smriti’s business mantra is - Not to get too overwhelmed by top line revenue figures. From 1st August 2010 to 31st July 2011, the company saw 40 per cent growth in the business.

GROWTH & EXPANSION In February this year Karuturi Global Limited, the world’s largest producers of roses acquired 58 per cent stake in Florista India Pvt. Ltd. Florista has now merged retail operations of Karuturi Global Ltd. The retail plans now are to open 200 company owned and franchised outlets across the country by 2013.

SNAPSHOT Founder: Smriti Dalvi Age: 42 Year of inception: 2003 City: Mumbai Number of employees: 97 Awards/Recognitions: Women Entrepreneur Award in Small Scale Sector in 2008 by IMC, Mariwala foundation & SP Jain Institute

JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

SPEEDHOST.IN

CONCEPTION NO

O Junoon to do something different is what makes an entrepreneur. Jugaad and luck are something which helps him/her achieve success faster.

Entrepreneur Prashant Parikh got the idea of starting a web hosting company since he noticed that he always looked for U.S companies when he wanted to buy a hosting or domain name. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s how SpeedHost.in was born, offering affordable hosting solutions with friendly customer support.

G A A D A N D LU

Affordable Hosting Solutions

TA K E O N J U

THE MODEL

SpeedHost.in is all about providing affordable web hosting and domain names. What makes it unique is that it strives to provide the best customer support possible in this industry. From Seed Fund to Funding The entrepreneur started this venture with Rs1, 000 working from home and broke- even in two hosting accounts, which he sold to a couple of friends over a period of two months. Further, he funded this venture with his own savings and the growth was funded from the income generated from the business itself.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT Founder: Prashant Parikh Age: 33 City: Delhi Year of Inception: 2007 Number of Employees: 7

Â&#x2021; 3XWWLQJ WKH VWURQJHVW HPSKDVLV RQ TXDOLW\ RI VHUYLFHV ZKHWKHU it is to maintain an uptime on its servers, or after sales support to customers

GROWTH & EXPANSION The company has grown exponentially, from revenue of just ` 10,000 in 2007-2008; it recorded revenue of over ` 35 lakh in the last financial year. Now it is planning to enter the cloud hosting space very soon, which is going to be the next big development in the hosting industry.

SNAPDEAL.COM

CONCEPTION

E ON JU NO K TA

The model revolves around featuring attractive offers across various cities and then instantly notifying the growing subscribers to purchase the deal.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

J N,

Got the best deal! UGA

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Luck you can hope for, Jugaad you need, and without Junoonâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even try.

THE MODEL

Grabbing the right medium of customer acquisition through internet helped this e-commerce website make the best deals with local merchants to help their business grow.

The first investment in the business was around 40 lakh which was from the personal savings of both Rohit and Kunal. Snapdeal has raised $40 million from leading global investors Bessemer Venture Partners, along with existing investors Nexus Venture Partners and IndoUS Venture Partners.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Have been aggressive in increasing its reach and been able to grow to 8 million+ subscribers in a short span of 16 months.

GROWTH & EXPANSION Snapdeal now has over 70 per cent market share in India in the industry. In terms of revenue, it has been doubling its business month-on-month for the last one year. There are two new categories which have been introducedâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;products and travel. It plans to continue to rapidly grow its footprint across India and by end of 2011, plans to extend the footprint to 100 cities. 68

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

SNAPSHOT Founders: Kunal Bahl & Rohit Bansal Age: Both are 28, City: New Delhi Year of Inception: 2010, Number of Employees: 500 Awards/Recognitions: Rated the No.1 e-commerce company as SHU WKH 'DWDTXHVW 6DSLHQW HFRPPHUFH FRQVXPHU VXUYH\

SRISHTI SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS

NO O N CONCEPTION Luck , The dream of starting a venture of his has been the own was conceived by Ajay in the most important factor for form of Srishti Software me. You have to be present Applications. at the right place at the right time to get things done. Second THE MODEL is Jugaad, which you resort to if Srishti Software provides software you fail to be present at the right products in the twin areas of Web time at the right place. Last is Content Management (WCM) and Junoon, which keeps you Healthcare Information Management alive through tough System (HMIS).Its products like Paras times. and Kreatio are different because it can

A N D LU C K

Unique Software Products

TA K E O N JU

work in any software or platform.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING This venture was flagged with an initial funding of ` 10 lakh and broke-even in three years.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT

0DNLQJ WKH FOLHQWV EHOLHYH WKDW WKH RUJDQLVDWLRQ was capable of building products and could deliver to their commitment

Founder: Ajay Shankar Sharma & Deepak Kumar Age: 36 & 37, City: Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai & the United Kingdom, Year of Inception: 1997, Number of Employees: 150 Awards/Recognitions: Placed in the NASSCOM Emerge Top 10 companies under the category of Emerge Products for the year 2010.

GROWTH & EXPANSION Its growth in 2010 was 150-200 per cent and figures likely to be the same or better is expected this financial year as new clients have been acquired in India and abroad.

R SOLUTIONS

CONCEPTION Entrepreneur Badal Raja wanted to make IT solutions that could help companies to bring about change in the way they run their businesses. So he decided to get into this and started RSolutions. E O N JU N O O

K TA

UGA

AD AN

Luck needs to be there while Junoon deserves a major role to play.”

RSolutions is a 13-year-old IT solutions company that has been simplifying the process of IT; enabling day-to-day operations and other concerned business requirements. Its offerings can be broadly classified as Web Solutions, Enterprise Solutions, Web Services and Products.

J N,

THE MODEL

Client Centric Approach

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING In 1999, the seed amount invested was less, and it took almost six months to start break-even. Later on, whatever was earned from the business, a maximum amount of the same was put back to the venture for the growth of the organisation. This happened till the time this venture became self-sustainable.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Key tactics for its growth are: /LVWHQLQJ WR WKH FXVWRPHUV· QHHGV DQG 3URYLGLQJ WKHP WKH VROXWLRQ DV SHU WKHLU UHTXLUHPHQW

GROWTH & EXPANSION In the last one year, the entrepreneur witnessed 50 per cent growth rate. Currently, he does not have any expansion plans to grow his business.

SNAPSHOT Founder: Badal Raja Age: 37 City: Bangalore Year of Inception: 1999 Number of Employees: 15+ JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

INDIANUANCE

CONCEPTION

Symphony the Indianuance Style

THE MODEL

Observing how classical musicians were treated and how exploitative was the field and desperately lacking professionalism, Aishwarya moved to Mumbai and established a company, Indianuance that manages classical musicians.

Indianuance is an artist management and promotions outfit designed to undertake professional management of artistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; musical careers - be it concert opportunities, record deals, international collaborations or digital presence. Indianuance is hopeful that the artists under their banner will make a foothold in more diverse markets, showcase at more international J U G A A D festivals. It doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always work to play a ON, AN raga to an audience that is tuned-out O UN of classical musicâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;there are ways to engage them without disturbing Great if the sanctity of the music. They you have them! curate and advice on the endless feasibilities of showcasing music. Wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t rely on

TA K E O

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them though

SUCCESS STRATEGY

Adding artists to its list, adding additional verticals like Outsourced A&R consulting, strategic contacts and alliances in some key markets abroad have created a name for Indianuance. Convincing the artist fraternity of the need for such a venture continues to be a struggle because this industry is closely networked on personal contacts and the lack of awareness makes it even harder. Aishwaryaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business lesson is to keep overheads low-all businesses donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to have fancy offices and an army for staff. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We work out of a home-office, both in India and UK,â&#x20AC;? she says.

GROWTH & EXPANSION

SNAPSHOT Founder: Aishwarya Natarajan Age: 29 Year of inception: 2010 City: Mumbai Number of employees: 3 Awards/Recognitions: British Council Award for Music Entrepreneur for the year 2011 70

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

Indianuance started with one artist and has now added four more and many more non-exclusive artists and have increased its tour operations by three times. A digital and PR wing â&#x20AC;&#x201C; whether in-house or outsourced is on the cards. Aishwarya also aims to add a festival to its offering and establish some strategic partners in overseas markets. While Indianuance manages and promotes some artists, it is building itself to be viewed as the solitary resource for the classical, folk and musicians of allied forms as possible.

POLMON INSTRUMENTS

CONCEPTION

Foraying into the Pharmaceutical Field

Anand Manne, closely interacted with the users of the Pharmaceutical industry and their needs formulated into his own business unit, Polmon Instruments.

K TA

E O N JUNO

THE MODEL Polmon Instruments provides measurement and control solutions to the Life Sciences Industry. Quick response to the customer needs by customising the products and solutions is the base of this organisation. Identifying the huge growth of this industry in India, the entrepreneur ventured into this industry, and by utilising his expertise has stayed in this business for over a period of 11 years.

, Think of Junoon, pursue with Jugaad and luck follows. My rating is I - Junoon, II - Jugaad, and III Luck.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

A D A N D LU

SUCCESS STRATEGY

The initial investment was ` 2 lakh; and break-even happened in a yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time.

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SNAPSHOT

GROWTH & EXPANSION

Founder: Anand Manne Age: 54, City: Hyderabad, Year of Inception: 1992 Number of Employees: 180, Awards/Recognitions: 2006: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Small Scale Entrepreneur of the Yearâ&#x20AC;? Award by Hyderabad Management Association

The growth has been more than 100 per cent. The company is planning to venture into design and development, and contract manufacturing of medical devices. The growth and expansion would be done in an organised fashion by reinvesting the profits and borrowing from financial institutions.

POSITIVE CLIMATE CARE

CONCEPTION Meenakshi Jain read about the burning issues of global warming, climate change and its horrific impacts. Motivated with this concern, in 2006 she conceptualised her own organisation, Positive Climate Care Private Limited (PCC).

An Endeavour to Reduce Global Warming

THE MODEL ON, JU GAAD

ND Junoon: Passion to work until it is ďŹ nished with success. Luck: Effort plus luck together assure success. Jugaad: Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s about solving problems with what you have, not with what you wish you had.

TAK

This venture was started with Rs1 lakh and was able to make profits in the first year of starting the business.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

PCC works with the investors of the projects endeavouring reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG) emission. PCC provides its specialised consultancy services throughout the emission reduction creation process that includes initial assessments, developing full project documentation, steering the project through formal approval processes as well as monitoring and verifying GHG reductions.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Â&#x2021; )RFXVLQJ RQ VPDOO YROXPHV DQG ZRUNLQJ H[WUD PLOH Â&#x2021; $LPLQJ WR FRQTXHU HDFK SURMHFW DQG SURYLGH FXVWRPHU satisfaction so that there is no looking back

GROWTH & EXPANSION The growth of this company in the last one year has been 20-30 per cent. With the positive push, future plans include scaling up the end-to-end strategic consulting businesses in key geographies around the world.

SNAPSHOT Founder: Meenakshi Jain Age: 33, City: Jaipur, Year of Inception: 2006 Number of Employees: 9 Awards/Recognitions: Outstanding Woman (QWUHSUHQHXU IRU ),&&, DQG )/2 JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

RENUKA DIAGNOSTICS (ASHVIK HEALTH)

CONCEPTION

Providing Diagnostic Advancements

Ajay Shesh started Renuka Diagnostics to compete with the local competition mainly from unqualified quacks, and also from the big corporate labs, he.

TA K E O N J U N

THE MODEL

Junoon – is oxygen for success. Jugaad – is unfortunately overrated above everything else in India. Luck – a result of sustained smart effort.

A G A A D N D LU

Renuka Diagnostics is a chain of Pathology Labs and Diagnostic Services in Chhattisgarh. AshVik Health Pvt. ltd is the company behind this brand. The company caters to Diagnostic and Laboratory Medicine, and has a broad vision of running a nationwide chain of specialist Pathology Labs and Blood Banks branded as Renuka Diagnostics and Matrix Blood Products.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The founder took bank finance after mortgaging some of his property to the tune of around 35 lakh, along with some of his personal finances. The initial year-and-a-half was stormy and he finally registered neat profits by the end of the second year. Now, the business has stabilised, and he is happy with the growth, though a lot still needs to be done.

SNAPSHOT

SUCCESS STRATEGY

Founder: Ajay Shesh Age: 41 City: Korba Year of Inception: 2007 Number of Employees: 62

GROWTH & EXPANSION

6SHFLDOLVDWLRQ LQ 0LFURELRORJ\ DQG %LRWHFKQRORJ\ 2UJDQLVLQJ 'LDEHWRORJ\ FDPSV The company has registered a growth of 25 per cent. Now it is planning to expand through the Gulf Route with state-of-the-art labs and diagnostic centres in Dubai (e.g. Al Zorah) and Kuwait.

PRELUDE SYS

CONCEPTION Chandramohan Parlapalli got into his dream venture of starting a business group in the IT industry to provide information technology services with the formation of Prelude Sys.

THE MODEL

TA K E

Junoon, Jugaad and luck – everything is on the way. But being persistent and ﬂexible has enabled the enterprise to move forward and tide over crisis scenarios.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

Prelude Sys is an IT company that provides Software Development, Enterprise Application Services, QA and Testing, BPO and Strategic Sourcing services. The uniqueness of its service lies in its ability to leverage industry leading partnerships and by digging deep into years of organisational experience, to provide technical solutions to business problems.

People: The Key to Business ON, J UGAAD

More than money, time and effort were invested at the early stage of the venture. Later on, money was funded through internal accruals and promoters’ equity infusion.

SUCCESS STRATEGY The key strategy to become a progressive company was: (PSRZHULQJ FXVWRPHUV ZLWK EXVLQHVV DQG WHFKQRORJ\ VROXWLRQV 3URYLGLQJ FXVWRPLVHG VHUYLFHV WKURXJK FROOHFWLYH ZLVGRP DQG sustainable processes

GROWTH & EXPANSION The last year has seen a normal growth period for the company. Now the team is planning to enter new geographies like the Middle East. And it is also thinking of offering new solutions in Enterprise Mobility, Cloud Computing and Social Media. 72

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

SNAPSHOT Founder: Chandramohan Parlapalli Age: 39, City: Chennai, Year of Inception: 1998 Number of Employees: 450, Awards: Listed in Dun DQG %UDGVWUHHW·V ,QGLD·V WRS ,7(6 DQG %32 FRPSDQLHV 'HORLWWH )DVW 7HFKQRORJ\ &RPSDQ\ 1RUWK $PHULFD

FASHION AND YOU

CONCEPTION Watching invitation centric models proving their worth, with several online businesses excelling around the world, Smile Group was intuitive to implement such a model in India.

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THE MODEL Fashion and You is the leader in online private sale and online fashion/lifestyle retail in India. The uniqueness of its model lies in the constant flow of well known and desired brands available to customers at a considerable discount. In addition, it offers access to luxury brands at the customerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s doorstep without the prerequisite of having a credit card. Cash on delivery is a key feature in this model. , OON

J UG A A D A N

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING DL

Fashion and You is a part of the

TA K

UC international brand alliance â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Junoonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; K N working out of nine is the key geographical areas and ingredient. Luck is created leaders in each of their by your passion and I strongly region. Such associations believe that even though it may not and partnerships have be always as well timed as one likes, further boosted its luck does side with those who believe funding and have enabled in themselves and are passionate about it to receive the support what they do. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Jugaadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; also stems of some of the leading from passion in a way, since if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re investors in the world. determined, you will never rest Fashion and You, recently till an innovative solution to raised ` 201 crore from your problem has been a group of investors led by found.

Norwest Venture Partners and Intel Capital. This is touted to be the highest investment in e-commerce space in the country.

SUCCESS STRATEGY The company realised the fact that customer loyalty is extremely important and needs to be respected by fulfilling committments. Also, it is easy to lose a customer but very difficult to gain one, thus a lot of effort goes into loyalty programmes and other innovative ways to keep existing customers.

GROWTH & EXPANSION

SNAPSHOT Founder: Harish Bahl Age: 39, Year of Inception: 2010 City: *XUJDRQ Number of Employees: 250+ Awards/Recognitions: )DVKLRQDQG\RX FRP UHFRJQL]HG by DataQuest amongst the top 20 Hottest Ecommerce Startups from India

Fashion and You has grown in less than 18 months to a member base of approximately 2 million members. It experiences greatest customer loyalty from tier 2 and 3 cities. Fashion and You provides 14 different categories for fashion and luxury. The expansion plans revolve around introducing more exotic products and brands with an emphasis on better customer experience and quicker delivery for instant gratification. The company is currently working on reaching to the furthest corners of the country. JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

ANNIK TECHNOLOGY SERVICES

CONCEPTION

Windfall to the KPO Industry

The idea of starting an outsourced software development business clicked Rahul Sahgal from an ex-client who wanted work from India. The suggestion for the KPO and consulting business came out of hardship, after a downturn, which left him exploring other opportunities. KE TA

ON J

U N O O N,

THE MODEL AD

GA Annik Technology Services focuses on finding Junoon solutions for Market Research and Data is the key to Management. Flexibility and client focus success for me. Luck along with a deep understanding of how to is important also, but it has leverage technology is its USP. to be made and not expected AN

D LU

to happen on its own. Jugaad is not something out of which you can build a substantial and sustainable business.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING The venture was started with a client and six other people and has been cash positive from day one.

SUCCESS STRATEGY The success device for this pioneering business in KPO sector was focus on delivering the client needs; thus revenue and margins automatically ensued.

SNAPSHOT Founder: Rahul Sahgal Age: 44, Year of inception: 2004 City: *XUJDRQ Number of Employees: 700 Awards/Recognitions: 'HORLWWH )DVW 1DVVFRP HPHUJH 5HG +HUULQJ $VLD

GROWTH & EXPANSION Growth witnessed in the last one year was 50 per cent. The year closing was a good one for the company with operational centres being opened in Warsaw and Dalian and sales offices in London, Sydney, Boston and San Francisco.

AUJAS NETWORKS

CONCEPTION The founderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; vision of building a global Information Risk Management company took shape as Aujas Networks.

E O N JU TA K N

All three are critical and needed in equal measure for any entrepreneurial journey.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

Serving the Information ND Risk Segment LU

Aujas Networks is a Global Information Risk Management service company. Its services include: Information Risk advisory services; Secure Development Life-cycle services; and Identity and Access Management services; etc.

THE MODEL

JUGAAD A

The initial funding amount was $ 3 million, which came from IDG Ventures and the founders. And a break-even is expected soon.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Â&#x2021; 5LVN PDQDJHPHQW DQG FRPSOLDQFH GXULQJ WKH UHFHVVLRQ SURRI WLPHV Â&#x2021; :RUNLQJ WRJHWKHU ZLWK WKH VWDNHKROGHUV L H WKH FOLHQWV the team members and the investor IDG Venture, did the trick

GROWTH & EXPANSION Growth has been more than 300 per cent. The year 2010 saw an increase from ` 3 crore to ` 9 crore. With offices in India, the Middle East and the US, the company plans to expand further globally and focus on deepening its product portfolio and creating an Internet Protocol (IP). 74

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

SNAPSHOT Founders: Srinivas Rao, Sameer Shelke, Manjula Sridhar & Navin Kotian Age: 45, Year of Inception: 2008, City: Bangalore Number of Employees: 120 Awards/Recognitions: 1$66&20 (0(5*(

AUTOCALL

CONCEPTION

and Kiran Goel felt the need for a safe and reasonably A Pocket-Friendly AKE ON WeJUNOON, Vineet priced public transport system in Gurgaon and launched innovative and pocket-friendly public vehicles for Aam need to strike Vehicle for Aadmi. the right balance between Junoon, Aam Aadmi THE MODEL Jugaad and Luck in GA

A D A N D LUC

The entrepreneurs conceptualised a Radio Autorickshaw Service business model by adapting the Radio Taxi technology. This service is metered so that the passenger does not feel cheated and provides a safe and secure mode to travel. It has computerised online GPS tracking system, which keeps vehicles constantly in touch with the control room.

our entire entrepreneurial journey.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

In the initial phase, an investment of `70 lakh was made. Later on, the second phase has been funded through an unsecured loan, for adding 20 new vehicles into the existing one.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT Founder: 9LQHHW *RHO .LUDQ *RHO Age: 28 & 26, Year of Inception: 2011 City: *XUJDRQ Number of employees: 25

Key features for the growth of the business: Most affordable fare )ROORZLQJ VWULFW WLPH JXLGHOLQHV IRU UHSRUWLQJ RQ GXW\

GROWTH & EXPANSION This business was launched with 30 vehicles, and has expanded to a fleet of 50 vehicles, and now is planning to expand up to 150 vehicles within a year in Gurgaon itself, and also spread its area of operations to other cities.

AYURVET JU

TA K E O N

Junoon is most important. Luck favours those who pursue things consistently and passionately.

THE MODEL

UGAAD A N, J

To address quality livestock produce for improving human health was the idea to set up a company like Ayurvet. And it was founded by the founding Father of Dabur, Pradip Burman.

CONCEPTION

Addressing Animal Health

The business model of Ayurvet is improvement of animal health through use of scientifically validated products in cost-effective manner. It offers a wide range of products such as cost-effective, scientifically validated medicines that do not have side effects. The company has now integrated the solutions in sustainable manner for animals, soil and human health.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING The initial investment of time and resource was the key. It took around 10 years to break-even. They took support of the bank and other sister organisations for funding.

SUCCESS STRATEGY 7R UHDFK FXVWRPHUV· PLQGV GLUHFWO\ IRU FRQWDFW SURJUDPPHV )RU that Ayurvet team arranged training session for in-house resource for FDSDFLW\ EXLOGLQJ DQG %XLOGLQJ WUXVW DQG FRQILGHQFH LQ WKH LQ KRXVH 5 & D department.

GROWTH & EXPANSION In the last one year, Ayurvet grew by around 20 per cent. Now to build business on strong footing it has hired services of Delloite to help build vision 2020 for `1000 Crore.

SNAPSHOT Founder: Pradip Burman Age: 69, Year of Inception: 1994, City: Delhi, Number of Employees: 450 Awards/Recognitions: TERI Environmental Excellence Award 2009 JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

THE MODEL CityOffers is a unique initiative, where it helps local businesses to market their products/services to the targeted audience in the city. It brings a new marketing model where merchants donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to pay anything upfront, as is the scene with traditional form of advertisements (Print, TV, Radio, Outdoor, etc.). It provides a way of promotion where people know exact Return on Investments. The merchants just have to provide a great deal/offer which would attract new customers. The deal/offer will be available on the website for limited period (one day - one week) and the

SNAPSHOT Founder: Atul Jain, Sapan Kadakia, Tejas Kadakia Age: 26 (Atul & Sapan) & 29 (Tejas) Year of Inception: 2010 City: Mumbai Number of Employees: 6 Awards: *OREDO 6WXGHQW (QWUHSUHQHXU $ZDUG FRQIHUUHG E\ WKH Entrepreneursâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Organisation 76

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

The idea for the formation of CityOffers came when Atul Jain, Sapan Kadakia and Tejas Kadakia were doing MBA in MICA, and making marketing and advertising strategies for various brands as part of their academic projects.

CONCEPTION

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Promoting Website Deals

is rated as the highest. Then comes Jugaad. Lastly, Luck always plays a big role.

GAA

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company team will market heavily through all channels - the Social Media, Facebook Ads, Corporate tie-ups, E-mails, SMSes, Radio, Campus promotions, etc.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING The company started off with an investment of INR 10 lakh, but they had to increase the funds because of stiff competition and heavy advertisements. Later on, they invested INR 25 lakh in the company till date. The company expects to break-even by next year.

SUCCESS STRATEGY The best strategy used by the company team has been to satisfy the customers 24X7 and being very consistent about providing the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Best Customer Serviceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and ontime delivery.

GROWTH & EXPANSION The company was founded last year in June and started operations in November 2010. It is the only Bootstrapped company in Daily Deals space, to be fighting with the top 10 companies backed by big investors. It has taken business from a single city to three other cities (Mumbai, Pune and Delhi). Now the company is planning to make partnership with a media house or telecom operator for rapid reach and develop a disruptive pull based SMS app or mobile applications for reaching the masses on mobile.

BRIQUE TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS & CONSULTING

TA K E O N JU

O Junoon: to create something that will have an identity, while Jugaad remains an integral part of the growth story till now. Luck has been a ďŹ ckle mistress for my organisation.

THE MODEL

Collaborating All the Way

CONCEPTION UMBRELLIUM, the product of Brique Technology was conceptualised based on the general success of social networking sites.

UGA

UMBRELLIUM brings to the clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s table its ability to drive the thought process and flow of information through seemingly harmless channels like discussion forums, blogs, and suggestions. It helps organisations identify high performers within the resource pool. Better identification and classification of resources helps improvise the quality of resource allocation within the company.

AD AND L

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING The funding was completely by the entrepreneur from his savings. The break-even point is still elusive since whatever revenues that are coming are being used to drive the salaries of the team.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT Founder: Jay V. Pagnis Age: 30 Year of Inception: 2011 City: Navi Mumbai Number of employees: 10

Â&#x2021;'HYHORSLQJ D QHWZRUN RI FRQWDFWV WR LQFUHDVH WKH DZDUHQHVV RI WKH FRQFHSW Â&#x2021; +DYLQJ LQVLJKW LQWR WKH PDUNHW DQG SURGXFW URDGPDS IURP industry leaders

GROWTH & EXPANSION The team managed to sell the idea to one client which contributed to the revenue earnings. Happy with the quality of deliverables, the client has awarded another project to them.

CONCEPTION

We had a Junoon to make it and did Jugaad in most of the things and probably thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the most interesting part of our story. And we were deďŹ nitely lucky.

All about Cars

UGA

AD AND L

The brand CarWale under Automotive Exchange Private Limited provides information and services to consumers. Today, the team of CarWale works with more than 1,200 new and used car dealers.

CARWALE

THE MODEL

TA K E O N JU

In 1990, the entrepreneurs perceived the future of automobiles and with their amazing chemistry and varied talent made CarWale happen.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING The entrepreneurs bootstrapped for three years with IT start-up and around six months for CarWale. Then they borrowed, paid interests, formed alliances and approached their friends to raise cash as they needed. Seed fund was invested in Oct 2006 and a break-even by Mar 2007. They did another round with Sierra ventures in Oct 2008 and a debt funding with Silicon Valley Bank in 2009.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT

Â&#x2021; ([SHULPHQWLQJ DQG PDNLQJ LWHUDWLRQV WR ILJXUH RXW DQ HFRQRPLFDO EXVLQHVV PRGHO DQG Â&#x2021; ,QYHVWLQJ LQ FHUWDLQ ORQJ WHUP SURGXFWV that could impact industry positively. Founder: 0RKLW 'XEH\ *DXUDY 9HUPD 7XIDLO .KDQ $UXQ 6DKODP Age: 38, 35, 37 & 33, Year of Inception: 2005 GROWTH & EXPANSION City: Mumbai, Number of Employees: 220 The business has grown more than 200 per cent. The Awards/Recognitions: Red Herring Award for company is planning to create one of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most Excellence in Innovation in 2007 successful online auto companies in the next six years. JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

AZURE POWER

CONCEPTION

Light it UP!

After working for 12 years in the US, Inderpreet Wadhwa realised a bigger opportunity lay in the field of electrification in India.

THE MODEL With a background in Electronics Engineering, it made sense for Wadhwa to start his entrepreneurial venture in the renewable , E energy space. The company is aggressively working towards providing solar power at the lowest possible cost. It presently I believe in serves the institutional segment and plans to touch the rural a solid idea and market by next year. an even better GAA

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execution.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The entrepreneur initially funded the company from his fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s savings. Later, the company attracted funding from Helion Ventures and Foundation Capital.

SUCCESS STRATEGY To drive forward this start-up in the energy sector, encouragement by the Government played a major role.

SNAPSHOT

GROWTH & EXPANSION

Founder: Inderpreet Wadhwa Age: 44, Year of inception: 2009 City: Delhi Number of Employees: 70

The company has seen exponential growth in the last year, from 2 megawatts capacity it has increased it to 17 megawatts. This is distributed-with 2 megawatts in Punjab, 10 megawatts in Gujarat and 5 megawatts in Rajasthan. The aim is to raise the capacity to 1 gigawatt in the next 10 years. The company presently has an office in the US also, which takes care of design, procurement and engineering.

BALBA TECHNOLOGIES

CONCEPTION Balba Technologies evolved on the idea of starting an IT Infrastructure Management Services company with the aim to be a single point of contact for most of the OEMs world-wide. U GAA D A ND ,J N THE MODEL Junoon, Balba Technologiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; business is about IT Jugaad and Infrastructure Management Services. The company Luck come serially supports various OEMs, Corporate, and Retail on the way of my companies by providing the required resources to entrepreneurship the franchises and on sales and marketing of each journey. service point through sales resources. NO

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A Network of Support

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The entrepreneur invested ` 10 lakh at the start of this venture and later on, he got the help from few investors. The company expects to reach th e break-even within a year.

SUCCESS STRATEGY The strategy in the competitive world has been having a set up to support various OEMS, Distributors and Service Providers across India.

GROWTH & EXPANSION In the last six months, since the starting stage itself the entrepreneur had penetrated big names in the industry for IT Services and setting up the Service Engine ready. The company will have minimum of 15 Service Points within March 2012. 78

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

SNAPSHOT Founders: Saravanan P Raj Age: 35 Year of Inception: 2011 City: Chennai Number of Employees: 10

ZOMATO.COM

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a foodieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bay! G

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Every idea is replicable, but execution gives you the edge.

TA K

JU N O O N, JU

'HHSLQGHU *R\DO DQG 3DQNDM &KDGGDK WKH \RXQJ ,,7 LDQV FDPH WRJHWKHU DQG ODXQFKHG =RPDWR FRP )RRGLHED\ EDFN WKHQ LQ -XO\ ZLWK WKH LGHD RI KDYLQJ \RXU IDYRXULWH IRRG YLUWXDOO\ EHIRUH KDYLQJ LW OLWHUDOO\ THE MODEL Pankaj and Deepinder were working at Bain & Co. where they used to have a huge stack of menus in their cafeteria and everyone used to line up just before lunch for these menus. Many of these would be outdated and a lot of food joints were also missing. Looking at the scenario, the enterprising duo scanned all these menus and created a small website with phone numbers and menus of restaurants around their office. They got great feedback on this concept and then decided to roll it out for the entire NCR. Today, Zomato is an online food and nightlife Guide. It provides menus, photos, contact numbers, reviews and ratings.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

Pankaj and Deepinder invested ` 35 lakh during the first

SNAPSHOT Founder: Pankaj Chaddah Age: 25 Year of Inception: 2008 City: *XUJDRQ Number of Employees: 80

two years out of their savings. The company broke even operationally in June 2010. After which they raised ` 4.7 crore from Info Edge in August 2010. This year in September Zomato raised second round of investmet from Info Edge.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Restaurants have been traditionally used to spending mostly on print and it took time for them to realise the effectiveness of Internet as a marketing medium. Today almost all restaurant owners know Zomato.

GROWTH & EXPANSION Zomato had a team of six people in August 2010 with presence across five cities, providing information for 6,500 restaurants and had a user base of 1.5 lakh monthly users. Today, Zomato is a team of 80 people present across 10 cities, providing information for more than 17,000 restaurants having a user base of 8 lakh monthly users. Mobile applications are an important part of its future strategy. The company is also constantly increasing the range of offerings for its users. It launched a nightlife section on the website a few months back and has come up with an events section. Eventually it plans to become the ultimate discovery tool for anyone and everyone looking to go out. JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

CONJOINIX TECHNOLOGIES

CONCEPTION

The Business of ISP

Seeing the rising trend for Internet & Data Centre Services in India, Nitish Mahajan ventured to start an IT business of his own.

THE MODEL Conjoinix Technologies, a sister concern of the Himachal Wire Group of Companies, is a Class “C” Internet Services A Provider, currently offering Internet Access Services Junoon (Internet Leased Lines, Internet Broadband) in is 75 per Chandigarh region; and nation-wide Internet Data Center cent, and Luck is Services (Domain Registration, Web Hosting, Server 15 per cent and Colocation, Corporate E-Mail Hosting, VPS & Dedicated Jugaad 10 per Servers). cent. ,J

O N JU NOO KE N

A A D A ND

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The entrepreneur invested around INR 25lakh and breakeven came within three years of inception. The company was selfsupporting throughout its journey. All funds for growth came within the profit of the company and were re-invested all through these years.

SNAPSHOT Founder: Nitish Mahajan Age: 32 Year of inception: 2003 City: Chandigarh Number of Employees: Less than 30

SUCCESS STRATEGY Focusing on highest quality service and long-term relationships

GROWTH & EXPANSION The company added 18 key SME client companies in the client kitty. Profit increased by 6 per cent. The entrepreneur invested `15 lakh in 2011. Now he is planning to launch Cloud Hosting & Distributing VPS Reseller Network and targets to grow by 30 per cent during 2011-12

CONSERVE INDIA

CONCEPTION Conserve India was started as a non-profit orgnaisation with the aim to work on waste management and then was turned into a profitable organisation.

Junoon is very important according to me.

LU CK

Through its seed programme, it secured its initial funding and later through internal accruals.

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FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

Conserve India recycles 10 tonnes of garbage every month. The garbage is first collected, sorted out by colour, washed and then dried so as to be developed into products out of it.

TA K E O N J U

THE MODEL

From Rags to Riches

SUCCESS STRATEGY 5XQQLQJ YDULRXV FRQVXPHU SURJUDPPHV OLNH ¶:DVWH WR ZHDOWK walk’ - shows people how the garbage is picked and recycled LQWR SURGXFWV ,QYROYLQJ D ORW RI VWXGHQWV RI ,,0 ²$ LQ LWV business plan.

GROWTH & EXPANSION In 2007 the company started exporting to America and the Western Europe. It is growing at 30 per cent annually. From thin plastic bags, it has now moved to other streams like milk bags, packaging material, tyre tubes and seat belts. It also develops products for home interiors like cushions and lamp shades. 80

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

SNAPSHOT Founders: Anita Ahuja Age: 35 , Year of Inception: 1998, City: Delhi, Number of Employees: 300, Awards/Recognitions: Delhi government’s ZRPHQ HPSRZHUPHQW DZDUG %HVW FRQWHPSRUDU\ GHVLJQ LQ eco designing by Hong Kong and Seychelles in 2007-08.

EXCLUSIVELY. IN

CONCEPTION

Selling Indian Goods on the Web

The idea started two years ago when Sunjay Guleria was in America. He observed the fifty successful flash sales businesses around the globe currently, with the irony of the Indian diaspora not being addressed.

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THE MODEL N

Exclusively.In is an e-commerce website that sells luxury Indian goods, largely apparel, home decor, jewellery, etc. A unique business model called flash sales is used wherein the product categories are uploaded every day with sales timed for a specific period, say between two to five days.

A D A N D LU

, The ďŹ rst two are in your control and must be part of the work ethos of any successful entrepreneur.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

To start the venture, the entrepreneur reached out to a trusted friend who invested $100 k. An additional $750 k was managed within a short period. The funding process is still in process with $20 m expected from some of the largest venture capital companies in the world.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT

The key strategy for this venture has been focusing on consumer experience and customer service (this gave a repeat purchase rate of over 60%.

Founder: 6XQMD\ *XOHULD Age: 40, Year of Inception: 2010, City: Delhi , Number of Employees: 100, Awards/Recognitions: Rated as one of the :RUOGÂˇV %HVW )DVKLRQ 6LWHV )7

GROWTH & EXPANSION The company growth has been consistent with an average of 25 per cent each month. A substantial launch is awaited to serve NRIs, Indian diaspora and People of Indian Origin in Canada, South Africa, Singapore and Australia.

CONCEPTION Abhijit Bhattacharjee observed that with over 480 million mobile phone users, only about 90 million knew English, which meant the remaining used regional language to text and to maintain an address book. Hence, the idea evolved into the form of Luna Ergonomics.

THE MODEL

LUNA ERGONOMICS

/DQJXDJH 6SHFLĂ&#x20AC;F Keypads , JU GA A D

TAK E

AN ON D NO Junoon: Luna Ergonomics has developed new technology to support LU U J typing in the languages of India and of the world, on There is no the phone and other digital devices. Twenty-five major entrepreneurship languages of the world including nine major languages without a Junoon. Junoon of India have been transformed to keypad technology is the oxygen. Jugaad: A by this business genius. desi word for innovation, but I

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The initial funding was ` 25 lakh, with ` 1.5 crore being the subsequent investment.

donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t like it when it stands for aphorism. Luck is statistical. Everyone gets lucky if you try enough.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Encompassing all the users, stakeholders, mobile manufacturers, telecom operators and other technology companies.

GROWTH & EXPANSION The organisation has seen tremendous growth with 600 downloads per day just a few months back to 6,000 per day at present. The Panini Keypad is offered in Java, Android, iPhones, Windows and is applicable to the mobile phone and the tablet too.

SNAPSHOT Founder: Abhijit Bhattacharjee, Age: 40, Year of Inception: 2008 City: Noidai, Number of employees: 10, Awards/Recognitions: Winner 7LHFRQ *OREDO 7RS 7HFK 6WDUW XSV 6DQ -RVH &DOLIRUQLD 0D\ Â&#x2021; :LQQHU 5HG +HUULQJ *OREDO IRU /RV $QJHOHV &DOLIRUQLD

JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

JAWED HABIB HAIR & BEAUTY

CONCEPTION

Success with Scissors

THE MODEL

With his passion for hair and glamour Jawed Habib started his journey to own the largest chain of hair salons. It was difficult for him to convince people, including his family and close friends. But today, he has more than 225 salons and still counting!

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The family of Jawed Habib has been into the profession of hair style and design for a long time. Jawed Habib turned to be a third generation hairstylist. His family used to own couple of salons in Delhi. It was after his education abroad and his experience in India; he realized the true potential of this industry in India.

UGA AD A FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING ND Habib started in 2006, by getting into LU JVs with investors across India. His J Luck N favours only idea was to make his expertise those who work hard available across India through and make a planned effort. these JV salons and seminars. Junoon is what keeps the ďŹ re Apart from his own for success burning even at the investment, Jawed Habib lowest points in your life. Jugaad raised PE investment in the is a short term solution to your last financial year. Further, problems, eventually only your he proposes to raise resources Junoon will decide your through public issue to fund the success, concludes future growth.

ON, J

TA K

O UN

Jawed. SUCCESS STRATEGY For Habib one of the key strategies is to do business in an organised manner. The business lessons he learned wereFirst the transition from expanding via the JV business model to the franchise business model. Second, was to bring in a core team of professionals to run different departments such as finance, marketing, accounts, operations, franchise sales and corporate communication.

GROWTH & EXPANSION The company now plans for both organic and inorganic expansion. Its objective is to further increase the reach of franchises.

SNAPSHOT Founder: Jawed Habib Age: 48 Year of inception: 2006 City: Mumbai

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

CAPITAL

INDIA’S FIRST BUSINESS BROKERAGE COMPANY

ONE MOVE AT A TIME IS NOT ENOUGH

GLASSCO GROUP

CONCEPTION

Ready for the next stint O N JU NO

Surinder Jain built a small however skilled workforce to manufacture glassware in 1969. At that time Glassco had been selling into the domestic market only. Since his son Sameer Jain joined Glassco, the company witnessed a huge success.

Luck may come on the journey but Jugaad has no place in our manufacturing strategy.

THE MODEL

AAD AND

There are three sister concerns under the Glassco Group â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Glassco Laboratory Equipment Pvt. Ltd., GlassApp and Glassco Laboratory Instrument. Glassco Laboratory Equipment Pvt. Ltd. manufactures laboratory glassware which is used mainly in universities, laboratories, research and the pharmaceutical industry. Group company named Glassco Laboratory Instrument manufactures plastic, metal, rubber ware etc.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING The parent venture Glassco was started with a nominal amount four decades ago. Since the company started growing; they reinvested the money into the business.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT Founder: Surinder Jain & Sameer Jain Age: 64 & 38 Year of Inception: 1969 City: Ambala Number of employees: 210

Glassco started exporting in such a critical situation when international customers believed that only products made-in-Germany were reliable.

GROWTH & EXPANSION

Before starting exporting, Glassco had an annual turnover of ` 20 Lakh. With 3 different sister companies, Glassco sits firm with a turnover of ` 26 Crore in 2010. Glasco now aims to add capacity by 30% and move towards automation of standard products.

CONCEPTION Self assessment of pursuits in business as well as professional careers and the realisation of Green ICT (Information and Communication Technology) as a self-actualisation ON, JUGA AD need made Baskar and Madhavan create GQuotient. NO

Optimising Technology

UCK

The company GQuotient is all about enabling sustainability initiatives through the optimal use of technology. The business model and the customer acquisition process are differentiated.

TA K E O N

Abundance of Junoon, a bag full of Jugaad and a couple of lucky breaks would do the trick.

THE MODEL

GQUOTIENT

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING Founders and families invested close to USD 250K since the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s existence. Break-even took place in two years.ess.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Factors that led to its success are: Â&#x2021; )RFXVHG H[HFXWLRQ GLIIHUHQWLDWHG PDUNHWLQJ DQG IOH[LEOH GHOLYHU\ SURFHVV Â&#x2021; /HDUQLQJ W QRW WR FLUFXPYHQW WKH SURFHVV RI EXLOGLQJ DQ organisation but to jump-start, side step, and course correct.

GROWTH & EXPANSION With the mission to enable enterprises achieve sustainable monetisation through Green ICT technology and practices; the growth has been 100 per cent. Seeping into the market is also a planned strategy in their approach this year to Asia-Pacific and Ministry of External Affairs, and the Western World the next year. 84

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

SNAPSHOT Founder: Baskar Subramanian & Madhavan Srinivasan Age: 50 & 53 Year of Inception: 2008, City: Chennai, Number of Employees: 25, Awards/Recognitions: Nasscom Emerge 50 in 2010

FOUNTAINHEAD EXPORTS

CONCEPTION

Out of the box designs

Harshad Daswani decided to foray into the apparel sector as he realised that there was potential in playing in a niche field.

THE MODEL

Fountainhead Exports is a manufacturer of holiday and destination apparel. It offers fresh design and styling to the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Holiday Shopâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; clothing spaces to assist clients optimise value and sale. The service includes all aspects of supporting clientsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; retail operations JU NO ON like identification of product requirements, selections E ON K , To be TA and approvals, customisation, production, and on-time successful, delivery to fit specific client needs. Junoon is required. Jugaad is what you FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING make of it. And for Within the first two months of the business, the luck let â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lady Luckâ&#x20AC;? entrepreneur broke-even but he did not stop investing. intervene whenever And the capital expenditure is an ongoing process sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like. as the company strives to offer its clients the most competitive facilities. GA

A D A N D LU

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT

Â&#x2021; (YHU\RQH ZRUNLQJ FORVHO\ WRJHWKHU LQ D IULHQGO\ IDVW SDFHG G\QDPLF HQYLURQPHQW Â&#x2021; 0DLQWDLQLQJ UHODWLRQVKLSV ZLWK WKH VXSSOLHUV

Founder: Harshad Daswani Age: 35, Year of Inception: 2002, City: Mumbai, Number of Employees: 80, Awards/Recognitions: )UDQFKLVH ,QGLD %HVW 0IJ %XVLQHVV RI WKH <HDU

GROWTH & EXPANSION The entrepreneur witnessed 20 per cent sales growth in the last one year. In 2011 he increased capacity 50 per cent by opening a new manufacturing and quality assurance facility in Gujarat. By 2012 Q2, he plans to double the capacity with 2nd facility in Gujarat.

FUSIONCHARTS

CONCEPTION Hours spent in making reports in MS Excel format during school days made Pallav Nadhani realise the dullness and tediousness of these charts. This made him inquisitive ON JU NOO as to how he could apply web technologies to build N, KE A better charting solutions for the web. T As Ray Kroc THE MODEL famously puts it, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Luck is a dividend of FusionCharts is a software product that sweat. The more you facilitates web developers and PowerPoint users sweat, the luckier in making better looking, more interactive and you get. highly functional charts and graphs in their applications and presentations.

Make Charts Interactive! JU

A D A N D LU

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING The seed funding amount was $1,500. This amount was given to the founder for an article in ASPToday.com. The business was handled single-handedly for the first three years, the break-even happened from day one.

SUCCESS STRATEGY The moves adopted to avoid the impediments have been getting the payment gateway aligned and doing free coding for customers in lieu of word-to-word publicity.

GROWTH & EXPANSION With the double growth, the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s product portfolio is being expanded both horizontally with more products, and vertically with more depth in each product.

SNAPSHOT Founders: Pallav Nadhani Age: 26, Year of Inception: 2005, City: Kolkata Number of Employees: 60, Awards/Recognitions: 'HORLWWH 7HFKQRORJ\ )DVW ,QGLD 'HORLWWH 7HFKQRORJ\ )DVW $VLD 3DFLILF JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

MARS TELECOM SYSTEMS

Specialising in Convergence Technologies 0DUV 7HOHFRP ZRUNV DV DQ H[WHQGHG 5 ' DUP RI WKH FOLHQW GHYRLG RI WUDSSLQJV RI FRQYHQWLRQDO SURGXFW RXWVRXUFLQJ DJUHHPHQWV L H VFRSH UHODWHG LVVXHV UHVRXUFH XWLOLVDWLRQ WUDQVSDUHQF\ LQ RSHUDWLRQV SURJUDPPH PDQDJHPHQW HWF

THE MODEL MARSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; core competency is in developing products and offering services of the highest quality in a very collaborative business model, and associating in all aspects of Product Life Cycle management. To be more specific, its competency is in Convergence technologies such as VoIP, Datacom, Networking, Security deploying models like BOOT, dedicated ODC, etc. Leveraging this, it has made significant contributions to the growth of its clientsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; business and also its own. Starting as a VoIP Product Development Centre in 2004, with each passing year, MARS has expanded its business propositions. It has made a directed attempt to develop competencies and diversify in everything surrounding IP. Now, it has been engaged in several product assignments in Datacom, networking, security and mobile technologies.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The entrepreneur invested approximately ` 50 lakh for leasing IT infrastructure; and for initial recruitment activities in several cities. Lean management structure, smart financing decisions and excellent technical performance enabled the company to break-even within six months, after which, the company has been profitable every successive year.

SUCCESS STRATEGY The move from the start has been to invest heavily in human capital, especially on individuals with deep domain strengths.

GROWTH & EXPANSION The organisation is expecting a 50 per cent growth this year. Now, its founder is planning to set up a Testing Center for Excellence in Telecom domain for voice, video, security and networks; a Cloudbased pan-India Smart Governance Application Software capabilities to serve urban/local bodies; as well as, productise the e-Governance Delivery Platform; and take it to E ON JUNOON K A T , J several states within the UG country. AA

A company may get started, aided by any of these three (f)actors. Irrespective of how it gets s tarted, the entrepreneurial journey is always successful by having a long-term view of your business, being smarter than the best, and most importantly, developing core competencies. D

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

D LU

Founder: Ramesh Sundaresan Age: 46 Year of Inception: 2004 City: Hyderabad Number of Employees: 225 Awards/Recognitions: IT & ITES Business of the Year Small Business award 2011.

SNAPSHOT

INAR PROFILES

CONCEPTION

Supplying Galvanised Components

T. Gautam and S. Mani ventured into manufacturing to feed the galvanising plant. Since power sector started booming, they found some great potential and opportunity here and made substantial investments and started Inar Profiles.

THE MODEL

Inar Profiles manufactures and supplies galvanised components which are required by the power plants. They are the approved suppliers for most of the power majors like NTPC, NPC, BHEL, SIEMENS, ABB, ALSTOM, O N O U N J , JU ON G E AA AREVA, L&T, etc. K Junoon TA made us FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING entrepreneurs in the ﬁrst The initial investment for galvanising place and Jugaad kept us plant was not substantial, but when nimble-footed and being able they set up the manufacturing to adapt to the ever-changing unit, they invested ` 75 lakh with situations and scenarios. And we equivalent funding from SIDBI. The made our own luck by keeping initial investment was recouped in a our eyes and ears open to couple of years, but the entrepreneurs on every opportunity that continued to invest and expand came our way. their facilities to meet the increasing requirements of the client. AN

D LU

SNAPSHOT Founder: 7 *DXWDP DQG 6 0DQL Age: 41 & 59, Year of Inception: 2005, City: Visakhapatnam, Number of Employees: 80, Awards/ Recognitions: Winner of Chota Business Bade Sapne – An all India contest conducted by CNBC – TV 18

GROWTH & EXPANSION In the last one year, the turnover of their venture stagnated around ` 31 crore.. Its immediate plan is to focus on catering to other infrastructure sectors like railways.

INCEPT (SOLUS SOFTWARE & SYSTEMS)

CONCEPTION

Incept started with the amalgamation of two different conceptsto create an environment where HR and administrators in a company feel equipped enough to handle their workload O O N, J U JUN GA automatically, and to create products targeting only the small N Luck O businesses. plays an important role THE MODEL but the level of its The business model is to focus on SMEs; and create, sell importance is decided and service innovative office automation products for by your Junoon and them. Uniqueness is in the set of products and in the Jugaad. business model which allows the entrepreneurs to directly remain in touch with end users throughout the product life.

AND

TA K

Automated Products IRU 2IÀFHV LU C K

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

More than ` 10 million was spent as capital investment. Breakeven was reached within the first financial year itself. Funding was received from the sister concern Solus Security Systems Pvt. Ltd. Angel investments paved the way ahead.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Conviction and passion for work kept them going.

GROWTH & EXPANSION In last one, team Solus made 50 new customers, and all of them were totally variable in their business sector, location, etc. Now they are planning to launch some new products for remote surveillance, and are on the verge of becoming multinational through its Middle East and Africa offices/ franchisees.

SNAPSHOT Founders: Hariom Sharma & Ashwin Srivastav Age: 38 & 25 Year of Inception: 2003 City: Mumbai Number of Employees: 20+ JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

INDUCTUS CONSULTANTS

CONCEPTION

Providing Integrated Services

Alok Kumarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s association with American Healthcare company, Johnson & Johnson, required immense national travel. He realised Bihar was far behind in terms of human resources and IT. With TA K the political and social turnaround in Bihar in 2005, he EO N intuited it was time to materialise his thoughts. JU

As an entrepreneur, only THE MODEL Junoon can keep you Inductus Consultants is a consulting service going and provides motivation organisation engaged in designing and delivery of a to excel. Jugaad can only help wide range of Consulting Services and Solutions. The once, that too in the short term. uniqueness in its service delivery lies in the Otherwise, it does not work. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Integrated Servicesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, which is an incorporated Luck: Honestly, an essential amalgamation of HR Consulting, IT Consulting, factor, over and above Management Services Consulting, Training, Junoon. Development and Capacity Building, etc. NO

O N,

JU G A

AD A N

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The company started with an investment of ` 4 lakh with the break-even achieved in just six months.

SNAPSHOT

SUCCESS STRATEGY

Reasons for its manifold growth are maintaining its inherent strength and Total Quality Management with strict adherence Founder: Alok Kumar to the t imelines. Age: 35, Year of Inception: 2006,City: Patna, Number of employees: 200+, Awards/Recognitions: Rashtriya Ratna $ZDUG 0D\ Â&#x2021; 1DWLRQDO $FKLHYHPHQW $ZDUG IRU %XVLQHVV GROWTH & EXPANSION The company has four offices across the country and aims ([FHOOHQFH -XQH Â&#x2021; 5DMLY *DQGKL 6KLURPDQL $ZDUG

to achieve pan-India presence by March 2013.

INOPEN TECHNOLOGIES

CONCEPTION InOpen Technologies was formed to create possible synergies in the school domain. It has empowered around 40,000 students with computer science education in less than two years. J U N O O N, J UG ON AA E THE MODEL K Junoon InOpen Technologiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; product Computer Masti (CM) addresses is the most the need for an active computer learning through a cutting important quality edge IT curriculum. The content, apart from teaching one can have. Jugaad computer literacy skills, also teaches other concepts like is something like step-wise thinking and logical reasoning. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;momentary solutionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

D LU CK

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

Vision-MissionEducation

like faking cleanliness when lots of things are dirty.

The company got SINE Incubation in November 2009 which was critical as it helped it in terms of infrastructure, mentorship and overall visibility in brand building and investors. The company has raised a capital of US $ 500,000m from VenturEast.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Â&#x2021;([FHOOHQFH LQ WHFKQRORJ\ WKDW FDQ SUHVHQW HGXFDWLRQ FRQWHQW LQ D SURIHVVLRQDO ZD\ Â&#x2021; 7R KDYH D NLQG RI DVVRFLDWLRQ ZLWK VFKRROV WR PDNH VXUH that a continuous capacity building is taking place

GROWTH & EXPANSION The company has expanded beyond schools and is now working for State Governments catering to adult education. The expansion plan is mostly towards adding more subjects to the armoury and building quality services around the same. 88

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

SNAPSHOT Founder: Rupesh Kumar Shah Age: 25 Year of Inception: 2009 City: Hyderabad Number of Employees: 42

INDIAN COOKERY

A Chefâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Secret! (YHU VLQFH &KHI 6DQMHHY .DSRRUÂˇV VKRZ .KDQD .KD]DQD EHFDPH SRSXODU SHRSOH KDG EHHQ ORRNLQJ RXW IRU DQ RSSRUWXQLW\ WR WDVWH WKH UHDO 6DQMHHY .DSRRU khanaÂŹ7KH UHVWDXUDQWV WRGD\ DUH QRW RQO\ SRSXODU LQ ,QGLD EXW LQWHUQDWLRQDOO\ DV ZHOO THE MODEL Sanjeev Kapoor started Khazana, an upscale Indian cuisine restaurant and The Yellow Chilli, casual Indian cuisine neighbourhood restaurant. On the cards are soon to be launched brands - Pin Yin CafĂŠ, casual Chinese dining; Signature, high end Sanjeev Kapoor dining and Sure Vie, the lounge bar.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING Right from the start, the company has been into franchising from the first outlet, so the investment was on brand and expertise. Now the company is planning to open owned stores in each brand mentioned above for which some capital has come in through PE route.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Key strategy for its success has been to keep it simple â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in ambience, food, service, and value of money. The company keeps a low profile to avoid over expectations and then do subtle marketing. This is mainly through Sanjeev Kapoorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cross promotions

GROWTH & EXPANSION The companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s expansion plans seem very aggressive. They have signed outlets in Nepal, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Raipur, and Delhi, to name a few. TAKE ON JUN

N, JU

If I did not have the vision for Indian cuisine and not be obsessed with it then the stage where I am would not have been possible! Jugaad, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t believe in and luck can never be discounted â&#x20AC;&#x201C; however much passion and labour one puts in, if luck is not favouring you nothing happens.

A ND LUCK

Founder: Sanjeev Kapoor Age: 47 years Year of Inception: 1998 City: Mumbai Number of Employees: Khazana Dubai has won the award of 'XEDLÂˇV )DYRXULWH 5HVWDXUDQW )LYH 6WDU &DWHJRU\ D FRXSOH RI WLPHV

SNAPSHOT

JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

LIQVID E LEARNING SERVICES

CONCEPTION Entrepreneur Vivek Agarwal saw an opportunity in digital language learning as traditional models of teaching language weren’t really effective. So he started this venture, Liqvid E Learning Services, which aimed at leveraging technology to create and provide J N U O N O O N scalable solutions. KE TA ,J

Digital Language Learning Methods

THE MODEL

Passion is the key to success. ‘Jugaad’ is more about being at the right place at the right time, which is crucial to tapping the opportunities available. And a bit of luck always helps.

D AN

Liqvid E Learning Services creates a scalable solution for language learning through innovative use of technology. It provides seamless learning experience through the blended learning model that combines instructor led training with computer-based training.

D LU C K

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING The investment has been more than $ 3 million and the company has been profitable for many years now.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Persistency in one’s vision, thinking big, and starting small, and the execution of thoughts, all in a practical and calculative manner

SNAPSHOT

GROWTH & EXPANSION

The company plans to grow 80-100 per cent by this Founder: Vivek Agarwal financial year. It has recently launched a Portable Age: 39, Year of Inception: 2003, City: Noida Language Lab, which brings them EnglishEdge Number of employees: 100 content onto tablets. Expansion has also taken place Awards/Recognitions: English Edge was nominated for the Innovation in the vernacular Indian languages, and very soon, Awards’ 2005 and was also recognised by NASSCOM. this product would also be accessible online.

CONCEPTION Companies are accumulating information all the time, sometimes much more than they can manage and to fill this gap Sanjay Mehta and his friends in 2006 set up MAIA Intelligence, a business intelligence product company. ON, JUGA A NO D U J THE MODEL I would MAIA Intelligence offers products in BI space based on believe in Junoon innovative technology powered by a robust Microsoft stack to make my own with highly experienced technocrat team. Its flagship product Luck which may not 1KEY Agile BI Suite, a comprehensive, single layer, groundnecessarily be up built, interoperable easy-to-use, caters to the demand of Jugaad. all users (strategic, tactical and operational), small, medium or large corporate, all industry verticals in India and abroad.

MAIA INTELLIGENCE

UCK

TA K E

Business Intelligence Deals

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING At the initial stage of his business, the entrepreneur got help from his family, friends and few angel investors. Within 3 years of his venture, he and his team witnessed the break-even point of investment.

SUCCESS STRATEGY .HHSLQJ D FRQVFLRXV VWUDWHJ\ WR IRFXV RQ 5 ' DQG PDUNHWLQJ RI WKH products and enable partners to fulfill demand 3ODQQLQJ WR ZLGHQ WKH SDUWQHU EDVH DQG WR H[SDQG WKH PDUNHW IRU LWV products

GROWTH & EXPANSION The company has seen tremendous growth in terms of number of customers and number of its 1KEY BI software users. 90

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

SNAPSHOT Founder: Sanjay Mehta Age: 39, Year of Inception: 2006City: Mumbai, Number of Employees: 35 Awards/Recognitions: Microsoft’s ISV Innovation Award 2010 Winner

KRONO IINC

CONCEPTION

TA K

Entrepreneur Manoj Rathi observing the marketing and the sales Marketing your employees as the most hardworking individuals was determined to OON, JU GA serve this class. Krono iinc was created keeping this thought - of AD easing the life of these individuals. JU N Business N AN O Junoon E LU

One has to be really THE MODEL aggressive in the mind Krono is a Digital and Direct Marketing Agency to start, sustain and grow a into planning, execution and check of Return successful organisation. on Investment better accepted as break-even on Jugaad-It is important to work marketing campaigns and other criteria as per clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s your way around to grow in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s discretion. Expertise knowledge base in the Marketing times. Luck-Surely important, and Sales Domain with the know-how and execution hard work and smart work alone strategies is the distinctiveness of this organisation. cannot take you to the top, a bit of luck is surely FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING required. Initial funding was ` 3 lakh with break-even just within 2-3 months. CK

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT Founder: Manoj Rathi Age: 31 Year of Inception: 2006 City: Mumbai Number of Employees: 20

Â&#x2021; 0DNLQJ H[SHULHQFH KLV SOXV SRLQW WKH WHFKQLFDO JOLWFK ZDV VRUWHG RXW E\ KLULQJ WHFKQLFDO SURIHVVLRQDOV Â&#x2021; 3URYLGLQJ GHJUHH VROXWLRQ in the Marketing Perspective has been their USP

GROWTH & EXPANSION Growth has been good with new services and ventures added in Property Marketing with a new identity called â&#x20AC;&#x153;Krono Realtorsâ&#x20AC;?. Multi locations, turnover growth and manpower growth are in the priority list of the company.

KUTCHINA

CONCEPTION

L AND UCK

TA K E O N

Cooking Becomes Hassle-Free

Since childhood Namit Bajoria wondered how to create a cooking space where cooking would be a pleasant experience for the ladies, and where they would love to work. This very thought OON, JUGA inspired him to start up the business venture, Kutchina. A UN Junoon THE MODEL is followed by Kutchina enterprise is the pioneer in auto clean kitchen Luck, which in turn is succeeded chimney, with over 70 per cent market share in eastern by Jugaad. region and has national presence. The chimneys have been technologically upgraded to provide hassle-free cooking experience to the contemporary consumers. The chimneys come in varied sizes to suit the needs of every kitchen.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING Rupees 1.5 lakh was the initial sum of investment; the break-even happened in four years. Conviction and passion for work kept them going.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Give excellent service to distributors and consumers, without bothering about the expenses incurred.

GROWTH & EXPANSION The growth of this decade-old company has been satisfactory with a rate of 50 to 60 per cent. A top priority is its expansion with a budget of ` 25 crore for the fiscal year; the southern region is to be targeted with exclusive outlets and brand promotion. Expansion in production capacity is also in the list.

SNAPSHOT Founders: Namit Bajoria Age: 38 Year of Inception: 2000 City: Kolkata Number of Employees: 993 JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

DYNAMIC VERTICAL SOFTWARE

Dynamic delineation %HIRUH VWDUWLQJ KHU YHQWXUH 5DNKHH 1DJSDO VSHQW PDQ\ \HDUV LQ HGXFDWLQJ WKH PDUNHW WR PDNH WKHP UHDOLVH KRZ D VWUHDPOLQHG DQG VHDPOHVV DSSURDFK WR WKH EXVLQHVV ZRXOG KHOS WKHP JURZ CONCEPTION N EO

J U N O O N,

G Junoon, Junoon, Junoon all the way with a little bit of luck and a revolving strategy based on right intention and ethics. K

Rakhee Nagpalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s past experience as a director of Navision India made her realise that the only way to really sell the true value of a business application was to go industry by industry. Through this knowledge and experience came the vision for Dynamic Vertical Software.

N D LU C K

THE MODEL Dynamic Vertical Software (DVS) provides end-to-end integrated, adaptable business applications built on Microsoft technologies. Today, it is the exclusive distributor of LS Retail suite of solutions, Cenium, Miracle and Handpoint product range for South Asia and the Middle East and Gulf territories as well as for Profitbase BI solutions for India and the Subcontinent. The organisation has made a mark in the entire South Asian retail and hospitality industries and even expanded its business operations to the Middle East, Africa and Gulf region through its office in Dubai.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING Over the years, the entrepreneur has spent over $ 4m just in the Indian market alone. It has taken her between 3 to 4 years to break-even, as the initial investment to build a business was, very high since the inception.

SUCCESS STRATEGY The key strategies of DVS have been: Â&#x2021; 7R EXLOG D VWURQJ SDQ ,QGLD SDUWQHU FKDQQHO ZLWK D YHUWLFDOLVHG DSSURDFK WRZDUGV UHWDLO KRVSLWDOLW\ DQG UHDO HVWDWH LQGXVWULHV Â&#x2021; To build its capacity in terms of the go-to-market strategy so that it can make sure the partner channel has a localised, bug-free SURGXFW ZLWK UHIHUHQFHV DQG D URDGPDS Â&#x2021; 7R JR E\ LWV VWURQJ HWKLFV and values that leads it in conducting business and also has an open and transparent culture internally to make sure the entire team is motivated

GROWTH & EXPANSION

SNAPSHOT Founder: Ramesh Sundaresan Age: 46 Year of Inception: 2004 City: Hyderabad Number of Employees: 225 Awards/Recognitions: IT & ITES Business of the Year Small Business award 2011.

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

In the last one year, it launched the Retail Centre of Excellence to transform the business models through its expertise in the retail, real estate and hospitality industries. Till date, DVS has a customer base of 300+ customers who have benefitted from its solutions which includes some of the leading retail and hospitality brands. The entrepreneur is planning to double the headcount over the next one year and hopes to tap many more verticals and micro industries through in-depth market research and technological advancements. And her team is also continuing to build its partner base in India, the Indian subcontinent, the Gulf, the Middle East and Africa.

CONCEPTION

In the Name of Sport!

EduSports was formed with the idea of delivering holistic education through sports by partnering with schools and completely integrating into the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s system.

OON, JUGA

THE MODEL

Junoon is the most important block in this journey.

L AND UCK

TA K E O N

EDUSPORTS

Today, EduSports covers more than 130,000 children and works with more than 160 schools in 60+ cities across India. These regional business teams are supported by a corporate team based out of Bangalore (Product & Innovation, Finance, Marketing, Logistics, Human Resources, etc.).

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

A loan of ` 12 lakh was taken to kick-start EduSports - the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;School Sportsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; project of â&#x20AC;&#x153;SportzVillageâ&#x20AC;? in early 2009. In early 2010, an additional sum of ` 4 crore was raised from an early stage PE firm (Seed fund).

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT Founder: 6DXPLO 0DMPXGDU 3DUPLQGHU *LOO 0HHU W K, Jyoti Majmudar & Suhas Nair Age: 38, 39, 38, 41 & 56, Year of Inception: 2009 City: Delhi, Number of Employees: 275

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GROWTH & EXPANSION The company expects to at least double every year and help about 1 million children to play with the EduSports programme by 2014-2015 and hopes to expand within India to newer geographies with the existing proposition.

MIDSHELF.COM

CONCEPTION Apurva and Rishabh Chaturvedi voracious readers started a book business - Midshelf.com â&#x20AC;&#x201C; an online book store. E ON JUNO TAK ON

THE MODEL

D AN

D LU C K

The entrepreneur brothers started this company with around ` 3 lakh just four months back and are yet to break-even. Till now, the venture is self funded.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

,J Junoon will get you started and you have to keep reinventing it at every stage of your journey. Jugaad is an inevitable requirement along the way, since we are in India. Luack is overrated. It is nothing but a function of your Junoon and Jugaad.

Midshelf.com which is an online bookstore is an e-commerce portal through which it sells books and magazines. Its uniqueness lies in: the attractive discounts on all items; making purchase through simple steps; the service of free home delivery of books through the fastest courier companies; and exciting combo book offers.

A Bookstore on the Web

SUCCESS STRATEGY Â&#x2021; 7R PDNH WKH ,QGLDQ FRQVXPHUV DW HDVH ZKLOH SXUFKDVLQJ RQOLQH Â&#x2021; 'HYHORSLQJ D XVHG ERRN SODWIRUP IHDWXUH RQ WKH VLWH

GROWTH & EXPANSION Sales have grown month-on-month since the brothers launched their venture. In the last five months, their achievement is that the customers who have shopped on this site have given positive feedback and have come back again. Now it is planning to address certain market verticals for the needs of self published authors by providing them better visibility on the website.

SNAPSHOT Founders: Apurva Chaturvedi & Rishabh Chaturvedi Age: 28 & 27 Year of Inception: 2011 City: Mumbai Number of Employees: 993 JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

MIRACLES HEALTH CLINIC

CONCEPTION

THE MODEL Our Miracles Health Clinic in Pune is an exclusive Hospital, Clinic, Junoon and Clinical Research Centre that provides intensive medical is to heal each care and research facilities in the area of Modern Medicine and everybody with and Homeopathy. This clinic focuses on curing chronic homeopathy without diseases and undiagnosed medical conditions at an affordable any side effects and cost. with a personal touch. FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING E

TA K

Yogesh Kadam was a born healer and passionate about the healing Miracles through Dr. profession. So he started his own clinic in the name of Miracles Health Clinic. Healing U N O ON, J J UG ON

N D LU C K

There was hardly any investment in the initial year. Then his partner handed over the business to him and within these seven years, he has gained a respectable name in the Homeopathic field, with 3 clinics in and around Pune.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT Founder: Yogesh Kadam Age: 30, Year of Inception: 2004, City: Pune, Number of employees: 24

A feel good feeling as return of their investments have been so quick that everybody is enjoying benefits from the successful business model

GROWTH & EXPANSION The organisation has become a name in all households now in Pune and around the city with 40 per cent flat increase in the volume of the business every year. It has got inquiries for franchisee business from metro cities, urban and also rural areas. Now the founder is planning to negotiate terms for his business partners in Mauritius and Canada.

CONCEPTION

ON TA K E

I would believe in Junoon to make my own Luck which may not necessarily be Jugaad.

UCK

Mynd Solutions is a leading global service provider in business process management offering broad spectrum of services in Finance and Accounting (FAO), Human Resource Outsourcing (HRO), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Consulting.

Mynd over Matter DL

THE MODEL

MYND SOLUTIONS

Sundeep Mohindru and Vivek Misra chose to do outsourcing in association with big companies that were coming into India. So they ventured into this area of actually helping companies with their processes. ON, JUGA A NO D U J

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING Mynd Solutions started as a services company from a single room in the house. Gradually, it was able to accumulate enough profits. The funding was through internal accruals and self sustained profitable business model.

SUCCESS STRATEGY The key strategies adopted by the entrepreneurs were bringing technology into their DNA and staying up to date with market trends.

GROWTH & EXPANSION The company has been continuously growing for the last three years at an average of 30-40 per cent year on year. It plans to expand in the domestic sector and intends to venture to international territories with some of its service offerings. 94

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

SNAPSHOT Founder: Sundeep Mohindru & Vivek Misr Age: Both 40 , Year of Inception: 2004, City: *XUJDRQ Number of Employees: 35, Awards/Recognitions: QCID.L. Shah National Awards on Economics of Quality with a certificate of appreciation for Large Scale Units-2010-2011

KANGAROO KIDS EDUCATION

CONCEPTION

The Edupreneur

Entrepreneur Lina Ashar left her home and family in Australia to drive a new vision in education that was not financially motivated but a cause close to her heart.

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THE MODEL The entrepreneur’s exposure to education system as a teacher in Mumbai in 1993, made her realise that there were serious limitations in providing individual attention to each of the 60 plus students cramped in a single classroom. She realised a better way for children to learn and this led to the creation of KKEL. The first Kangaroo Kids preschool in Bandra, was started as a best-practice preschool with a ‘no coaching for school entrance’ approach in 1993.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

This venture was started with an amount of ` 30 lakh loan from her father in 1989. Partnering with like-minded entrepreneurs (franchisees) has rolled the funding of new schools.

SUCCESS STRATEGY In the words of Lina, “A personal challenge because my work is more personally driven than a professional call of duty.”

GROWTH & EXPANSION Kangaroo Kids Education presently has 80 centers across 24 cities and has also expanded to Maldives and Dubai. In the last one year, the company has added 12 new Kangaroo Kids franchisees and two Billabong High International franchisees to the umbrella of Kangaroo Kids Education Limited. The company is now looking at active expansion across the country especially in the northern and western regions. In the coming five years, it is aiming to set up around 150 Kangaroo Kids and 75 BHIS across Tier I cities and key metros in the country. It is also looking at building its overseas presence; and looking at expanding into developing countries.

K TA

E ON

JU NO O N

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Passion and desire I believe creates the right circumstances or luck to arise....so I always ask parents to allow their children to follow their desire which then naturally has passion and purpose attached and creates the luck.

D LU C K

Founder: Lina Ashar Age: 47 years Year of Inception: 1993 City: Mumbai Number of Employees: 450+

SNAPSHOT

JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

NATURALS BEAUTY SALON

CONCEPTION

The Business of Beauty

Veena Kumaravel born into a business family that catered to supplying products to salons, naturally therefore moved into the salon industry by setting up Naturals Beauty Salon Pvt. ltd. O KE

N J U N O O N, J

THE MODEL AA

UG The business model is to provide grooming services at A affordable prices. Naturals Beauty Salon has made an Junoon – indelible mark in the beauty and wellness industry. It being passionate is has also been successful in creating and perfecting a good; being obsessive franchise system, which has proved to be a successful is not a good virtue as you business model, spelling a win-win situation to all tend to overlook the people partners.

N D LU C K

who are very important in the business.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The initial investment on the first salon was ` 50 lakh. It was in three years’ time that the company started making profits. The break-even for the first salon was in seven years. However, the next few salons started making money in six months and break-even took place in 3 years.

SNAPSHOT

SUCCESS STRATEGY

Founders: C K Kumaravel & Veena Kumaravel Age: 43, Year of Inception: 2000 City: Chennai, Number of Employees: 1500 Awardss: )UDQFKLVH ,QGLD 6PDOO 0HGLXP %XVLQHVV $ZDUGV 1'79 +LQGX /LIHVW\OH $ZDUG )DYRXULWH 6DORQ

Focus and diligence made the number of salons rise to 100.

GROWTH & EXPANSION From 50 salons in Jan 2010 and moving on to 100 salons in July 2011, growth has been tremendous. The expansion plan is to consolidate its footfalls in South India and make a beginning in West India, especially Pune and Ahmedabad.

CONCEPTION

NEO WHEELS

Sanjay Kacheria recognising the potential of alloy wheels introduced it in the nascent Indian automotive industry.

The Pioneer of Alloy Wheels in India OO N, J UGA AD

Junoon - 10/10, Jugaad - 5/10, Luck – 4/10.

A N D LU CK

NWL manufactures aluminum alloy wheels for various models of cars and SUVs in India and around the globe. It’s uniqueness lies in its status as the smallest alloy wheel manufacturing plant in the world yet with the full suite of manufacturing capabilities of Casting, Heat Treatment, Machining, Polishing, Painting, Chrome Plating and Testing, etc. under one roof.

TA K E O N J

THE MODEL

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The initial investment was just over ` 4 crore and it took three years to break-even. The entrepreneur took financial help from family and friends, whenever required, at the initial stage. He also took loan from bank as additional funds against a healthy balance sheet and revalued assets.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Maintaining global product standards and delivery deadlines while designing processes to rely solely on indigenous materials.

GROWTH & EXPANSION The entrepreneur witnessed approximately 60 per cent growth in volumes and sales in the last one year. Now he is planning to expand capacity to better address the Indian automotive aftermarket industry. 96

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SNAPSHOT Founder: Sanjay Kacheria Age: 52 , Year of Inception: 1996, City: Mumbai, Number of Employees: 130, Awards/Recognitions: BBC Award for the best product in its category in India

DESIGNTECH SYSTEMS

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CONCEPTION Vikas was working with HCL Infosystems as Country Head for CAD/CAM (Computer Aided Design/Manufacturing) division. While showing CAD/CAM value propositions to large customer, he realised that these solutions if supported well would be equally or even more useful to the SME customers.

THE MODEL The business model of Designtech Systems is broadly classified into two. First, being sales and implementation of PLM (Product Life Cycle Management) range of solutions which consist of CAD/CAM/CAE, Digital Manufacturing and Data Management solutions. Second, providing engineering services to the product design and manufacturing companies based on PLM solutions.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

Initial investment was ` 3 lakh with break-even in six months.

SUCCESS STRATEGY The secret to its success was adopting a unique model of two tier dealer network in high end CAD market for the first time in India (This did the trick as it kept the costs down and enabled to create good market presence and penetration).

GROWTH & EXPANSION From 1st August 2010 to 31st July 2011, business grew by 25 per cent. The plan is to grow at about 25 per cent Compound Annual Growth Rate for the next three years. A DesignTech CAD academy for authorised training centre has been started. With two centres running at present, the intension is to grow this chain to 20 in the next two years. Growth in the global facade is also the focus, with plans to raise engineering services and exports to Europe, USA and Canada. By having an existing presence in all these three markets, the company intends to build and grow further. E TAK

O N J UN O O N, J U

I believe in Junoon. I also sincerely believe that if you work with Junoon, and work hard and passionately with strong value systems, luck will surely favour you. In good sense, “Jugaad” is finding somehow or someway to come out of a difficult situation. I am not averse to finding out a “Jugaad” solution in a tight situation till the time it is ethical and does not harm anybody.

D CK

Founder: Vikas Khanvelkar Age: 55 Year of Inception: 1998 City: Pune Number of Employees: 277 Awards/Recognitions: Adjudged Nasscom’s Top 50 emerging companies in India in 2010

SNAPSHOT

JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

OLACABS.COM

CONCEPTION

Taxis at the Click of a Button

Bhavish Aggarwal felt there was a potential to organise the transport portal segment and make it more trustworthy, convenient and transparent for consumers who book car rentals.

N JUNOO N, KE O

THE MODEL Olacabs is Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first portal where one can fulfill all car rental and cab service requirements. The company stands proud of its USP as it guarantees these points without owning a single car! It partners with taxi operators and provides technology to them to enable their fleet to be booked online and in real time.

All three are important. I would rate passion, i.e. Junoon as the most important as the other two are a direct result of passion. If you are passionate about your venture, you would do whatever Jugaad it takes to get it going. And the more you try, the luckier you get.

C N D LU K DA

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The initial investment was ` 6 lakh from the founderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own savings; a break-even is expected soon.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT Founder: Bhavish Aggarwal Age: 25, Year of Inception: 2010 City: Mumbai , Number of Employees: 11 Awardss/Recognitions: Top 5 emerging startups in 2011 (Business Today)

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GROWTH & EXPANSION Unlike the other business companies, Olacabs has seen a strong growth in just eight months of its start.

ONERGY

CONCEPTION ONergy was started to provide access to renewable energy technologies in rural India.

Meeting the Energy Needs of the Rural Folks

THE MODEL

TA K E

are great social ventures providing appropriate solutions in rural India.

D LU C K

The entrepreneurs started their venture with `15 lakh from their own savings from the previous jobs. And they also managed financial help from angel investors. The company recently reached the break-even point.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

ONergy is a Renewable Energy Venture that creates an ecosystem which connects technology, finance and grass root organisations to manage the energy needs, aspirations and resources of rural BoP beneficiaries. N O O N, JUGA A JU N They

SUCCESS STRATEGY Â&#x2021; %HOLHI LQ YDOXHV OLNH DFFHVVLELOLW\ DIIRUGDELOLW\ DQG DZDUHQHVV Â&#x2021; &RQGXFWLQJ DZDUHQHVV SURJUDPPHV WR HQOLJKWHQ WKH UXUDO IRON

GROWTH & EXPANSION

In the last one year, the company made `40 lakh of sales and reached out to 2,100 households and impacted lives of over 10,000 people. Currently, it is working in over 100 villages. It has partnered with over eight NGOs and MFIs and working in four districts of West Bengal, and also looking at expanding its network to other districts. 98

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

SNAPSHOT Founder: Vinay Jaju, Ekta Kothari & Piyush Jaju Age: 28 (Vinay & Ekta), 26 (Piyush) Year of Inception: 2009 City: Mumbai Number of Employees: 15

NET SOLUTIONS

CONCEPTION

Assisting in Developing Business Applications

Entrepreneur Sameer Jain had initiated a portal SeekIndia. com. It was then that people started asking if he could help them with the development of their business or business ideas. This is when he decided to open Net Solutions.

believe in Jugaad as it is always shortterm in nature.

A N D LU C K

TA KE

Net Solutions is an India-based company that assists aspiring individuals who want to turn their ideas into remarkable web O O N , J U and social applications. It collaborates with businesses N GA JU around the world to create and develop consumerN Junoon, friendly business applications for the Web, Desktop Luck and and Mobile. Jugaad. We don’t AD

THE MODEL

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The initial investment amount was ` 1, 75,000. And break-even was achieved in the very first year.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT Founder: Sameer Jain Age: 41, Year of Inception: 2000, City: Bangalore Number of Employees: 175+, Award & Recognitions: W3, Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year

2YHUFRPLQJ WKH LQLWLDO KLFFXSV RI XQGHU SD\PHQW WR JOREDO DFFHSWDQFH :KDW PDNHV LW JRLQJ LV WKH SHUVLVWHQW EHOLHI WKDW someday “we will arrive”

GROWTH & EXPANSION Growth has been consistent with 30 per cent growth every year since 2006. The company is looking at expanding its team to double the size in the next 3 years and to provide more focus on product development.

NETZENS SOFTECH

CONCEPTION

Facilitating Internet Related Enterprises

The idea developed gradually while Kanav Chopra was doing his B. Tech. With family support he laid the ground for his company, Netzens Softech. O N JU N O O N, KE JU A THE MODEL T G The business is Internet marketing and SEO. Junoon is the It is approved by STPI specialising in the driving force which makes the seemingly field of Search Engine Optimisation and impossible happen. Luck Link Development, PPC service, and Social is an essential ingredient Media Optimisation services.

for success. Jugaad is the least essential as it cannot be the founding stone of continuous success.

N D LU C K

The entrepreneur could not invest much at the initial stage of his business. But he was lucky to find international clients, who believed in his work knowledge and were supportive to his ideas, and paid some money in advance to execute projects.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

SUCCESS STRATEGY $JJUHVVLYH DSSURDFK &RQVWDQW UHVHDUFK DQG XSGDWLQJ DQG

GROWTH & EXPANSION The entrepreneur started business with limited funds and kept expanding as the funds came. Now he has 70 people on roll, with a turnover of ` 12.55 cr. Now he is exploring new markets and the response is promising, and also planning to open two more offices during the year.

SNAPSHOT Founders: Kanav Chopra Age: 27, Year of Inception: 2008 City: Chandigarh Number of Employees: 70

JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

COCUBES.COM

CONCEPTION In 2006 Harpreet S. Grover observed the difficulty his uncle, a training and placement officer, in a college in Punjab underwent. Time and money was spent travelling to metro cities visiting companies and persuading them to come over for campus placements. He realised that there were competent students in smaller towns and cities, who needed the right placement. After long sessions of discussion with partner Vibhore Goyal, they figured how they could leverage their skills with technology to solve this problem.

Providing College Placements +DUSUHHW HQYLVLRQV EULQJLQJ D SDUDGLJP VKLIW LQ WKH ,QGLDQ FDPSXV UHFUXLWPHQW VFHQDULR E\ XVLQJ WHFKQRORJ\ WR GULYH HIĂ&#x20AC;FLHQF\

TA KE O N J U NO

THE MODEL CoCubes helps companies improve their campus AN D LU recruitment process efficiency CK AAD and helps them to engage with G U students nationally. They ,J We are a ďŹ rm help colleges increase believer that the the employment and harder (Junoon) one employability of their works, the luckier one students by giving them gets. But if you are not visibility to MNCs, and smart (Jugaad) about it, improve internal process. Junoon and Luck would Technically, all colleges and not matter. their students are brought online on a single portal and relevant social networking tools are implemented.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING Two years of savings from the foundersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; work was the initial investment amount and the remaining fund was contributed by Amanjeet Saluja, (former VP EXL Service) who is now onboard as the firmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s President. The company got its first round of funding in place during mid-2008 by Ojas Ventures (started by NS Raghavan, Co-founder of Infosys).

SUCCESS STRATEGY The dominant causes of its success are: Â&#x2021; Making a benchmark for hiring high Â&#x2021; Aiming for an â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;A teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; so that everything else falls in place Â&#x2021; Their belief at all times that what they were doing is an actual gap in the market and they would be able to build a solution around it soon.

GROWTH & EXPANSION

SNAPSHOT Founder: +DUSUHHW 6 *URYHU DQG 9LEKRUH *R\DO Age: 27 & 29 Year of Inception: 2007 City: *XUJDRQ Number of Employees: 80 Awards/Recognitions: NASSCOM Top 10 Emerging Companies in India, Â&#x2021; 5$6%,& $ZDUG IRU ,QQRYDWLRQ LQ 5HFUXLWPHQW 100

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

A change in the business model by making hiring free for corporate gained a turnover of 700 per cent. The focus being engineering colleges for the last 18 months, the employee strength grew from 25 to 80. The company has a unique vision to help and ensure that every kid in the country has an equal opportunity to build a career. It works on building a solution around employability by partnering with other firms.

MYNTRA.COM

CONCEPTION

Mukesh Bansal founded Myntra.com with the vision of creating India’s largest on-demand personalisation portal. N O , JUG NO JU A THE MODEL N Myntra was started by a group of IIT/IIM graduates. As an Building on the success of personalisation, it is entrepreneur you expanding into broader lifestyle/fashion retailing. need to have a very With Sports Lifestyle as the current focus, the long-term mindset company has tied up with top sports and lifestyle to succeed. brands in the country such as Nike, Reebok, Puma, and Adidas to offer a wide range in branded sports lifestyle. A N D LU C K

TA KE

Success mantra

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING The company is funded by top tier Venture Capital Funds like IndoUS Ventures, IDG Ventures and Accel Partners.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT Founder: Mukesh Bansal Year of Inception: 2007 City: Bangalore

Myntra is the first brand to pioneer into personalisation of sports jerseys of cricket and soccer teams, such as IPL, Team India, EPL, and more recently FIFA. It is now Nike’s preferred online partner to offer personalised jerseys on Myntra.com.

GROWTH & EXPANSION Earlier the company had only 100 odd products, now it has almost 4,000 products. One year ago, the eyeballs were 10,000 hits per day. Now it gets 60-70,000 hits per day.

NASCENT JEWELLERY

CONCEPTION Entrepreneurs Pramod Goenka and Ariez Tata saw the need to introduce light-weight jewellery to the Indian market and introduced ‘Viola’ under the group banner Nascent E ON JUNO Jewellery. TAK ON

Voila! Jewellery for you! AA D AN

D LU C K

The company retails jewellery through their counters in large format stores. Its counters are present in the department stores under the LFS format across the country. Viola as a brand is unique in its positioning, and offers lightweight diamond and colour stone-studded jewellery.

Luck is an easy way to express a plan well executed. Jugaad should be taken as a positive manipulation. Junoon, there just has to be passion in what you do, without which it is impossible to grow, to the heights you wish to scale.

THE MODEL

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING This venture was primarily funded by the partner banks. With the establishment time of the jewellery market being years, break-even will take few years more.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Being able to conceive, plan and execute freely with a belief of success is what kept the organisation going

GROWTH & EXPANSION Growth has been in leaps and bounds for the company, with the year closing with 25 new counters, to the existing 160. Partnered with store chains, this brand is set to go to all parts of the country taking organised retail to all cities.

SNAPSHOT Founders: 3UDPRG *RHQND $ULH] 7DWD Age: 48 & 41 Year of Inception: 2008 City: Mumbai Number of Employees: 300 JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

101

ORION EDUTECH

CONCEPTION The sole aim of setting up Orion Edutech was to impart knowledge to students passing out high schools. J O N U N O O N, KE JU THE MODEL A Nothing T Orion Edutech provides training to students can be started who are academically or financially incapable without Junoon. of going for higher studies, but aspire to work Jugaad - we didn’t leave for MNCs. It provides 100 per cent placement any stone unturned to get to its students after training.

Empowering the Youth

A N D LU C K

our target achieved. Luck was deﬁnitely there FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING to play the role of A small investment of ` 1 lakh was made and lubricant. reached break-even point within a few months. Later, the company has been funded by an Angel Investor in 2009 and a venture capital in 2010. It opted for the franchisee route for faster growth.

SUCCESS STRATEGY (QKDQFHPHQW RI HPSOR\DELOLW\ RI VWXGHQWV DQG 3URILWDELOLW\ RI IUDQFKLVHHV

SNAPSHOT

GROWTH & EXPANSION

Founder: Sanjeev Kothari & Manish Agarwal Age: both 32, Year of Inception: 2005, City: Kolkata, Number of Employees: 320+, Award & Recognitions: )UDQFKLVHH ,QGLD HYDOXDWHG E\ .30* LQ ,QGLDQ (GXFDWLRQ Congress 2011) award for Best Vocational Training Institute

In the last 12 months, its gross top line increased from 110 million to 180 million. Now it has more than 150 centers across India, Bangladesh, and Bhutan. By the end of financial year 2010-11, the company is planning to have more than 200 training centers globally. It also has a plan to impart training to more than 50,000 candidates by the end of this financial year.

PATHPARTNER TECHNOLOGY

CONCEPTION The founding team envisioned to build an organisation which could offer the entire gamut of multimedia-centric product engineering services, in close union with high-end application processor and semiconductor IP makers, naming the firm PathPartner Technology. O O N, JUG JU N AA ON D Any E THE MODEL success story Founded with a common vision of building is a blend of Junoon, products, solutions and services in the Jugaad and Luck. In our multimedia domain, this four-year-old entrepreneurial journey, entity entered the market with Video the right contribution would Conferencing on Android. The axis of the be Junoon – 40 per cent; business is solving customer’s trouble Jugaad – 35 per cent points by bringing out new multimediaand Luck – 25 centric devices like tablets, smart-phones, per cent. VoIP boxes, and VC-end points.

TA K

Establishing Foothold in the Multimedia Domain DL UCK

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING Largely self-funded with a couple of industry veterans’ aide, the initial investment was $500 k, they broke-even in a year-and-a-half.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Having vertical focus, clarity of execution and obsession with technical excellence by the invincible team

GROWTH & EXPANSION Revenue in the previous one-year period was 30 per cent. The company would soon expand operation in other geographies as well. 102

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

SNAPSHOT Founders: Kanav Chopra Age: 27, Year of Inception: 2008 City: Chandigarh Number of Employees: 70

DETECTION INSTRUMENTS

CONCEPTION

Integrating Detecting Devices 'RQQLQJ DQ HQWUHSUHQHXUÂˇV KDW ZDV QRW HDV\ IRU 'HJZHNDU EURWKHUV HVSHFLDOO\ ZKHQ H[SRUWLQJ JRRGV DQG VHUYLFHV WR ,QGLD ZDV UHVWULFWHG E\ WKH 5%, %XW WKH\ VRPHKRZ PDQDJHG LW

Having extensive experience in offshore asset construction, Pradeep Degwekar was quite aware of the capital equipment required on Offshore Oil Exploration assets. He started his venture in the 80s when it was difficult for the overseas companies to export goods and services to India due to severe restrictions on release of Foreign Currency by the RBI.

THE MODEL

TA KE O N J U NO

Detection Instruments (India) Pvt. Ltd. is known for its Integrated Fire and Gas Detection Systems. It provides high-tech solutions for Safety to Process Plants and Personnel from hazardous gases and potential fires. The uniqueness A D A N D LU C K of the concept lies in the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;seamless A UG integrationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of scores of different Junoon ,J types of detecting devices, e.g. is the biggest Infra-red Hydrocarbon Gas driving force behind Detectors, Electrochemical Toxic entrepreneurship. And Gas Detectors, Optical Smoke the team of Detection Detectors, IR3 and UV/IR Flame Instruments is always ready Detectors, etc., on a single to use any Jugaad, platform. while Luck favours

their brevity and obsession.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

Although the company was envisaged as a Joint-Venture with a foreign equity partner, the entrepreneurs started the business with a paltry sum of ` 20,000 contributed by three local partners in the beginning. They got a servicing contract in the early days, which brought in some additional capital as well. It took about nine months to complete the government formalities of obtaining approvals for bringing in the foreign capital. They broke-even in the third year of the operations.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT Founder: Pradeep M. Degwekar & Kishore M. Degwekar Age: 61 & 54 Year of Inception: 1988 City: Mumbai Number of Employees: 85 Awards/Recognitions: ISA award for indigenous development of technology

The following approach has been adopted for its growth: Â&#x2021; Facing challenges of raising capital, dealing with government agencies, and collection of receivables, etc., head on Â&#x2021; Manpower selection, training, motivation and retention were other challenges which it has to continuously deal with Â&#x2021; Dedication to Customer Focus, Product Focus, and Market adaptability

GROWTH & EXPANSION The company has a robust 30 per cent growth in the order bookings in the current year over the same period in 2010-11. Now they are not planning any serious expansion for the next 3-4 quarters. Rather they will be in the consolidation phase.

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PK4 SOFTWARE

CONCEPTION

Get the Know-How of SMBs in a Jiffy

Narashimhan Mandyam started PK4 Software taking into concern the loopholes in the SMB market in India. A keen observer, he realised market survey of the Indian SMBs could be done by using technology. He felt that the Indian SMB could be organised and dealt better with the usage of Internet, mobile phone and worldclass business applications.

N O ON, J U GA

Junoon is critical, Luck is important, and Jugaad is irrelevant.

A D A N D LU

TA K E O N

THE MODEL PK4 Software is a Service Customer Relationship Management company, specifically targeted towards SMEs in the Rest (as opposed to the West). PK4â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s software is uniquely built for non-western economies. It is easily configurable and customisable to the unique needs of customers in different geographies and the culture.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING Rupees 15 lakh was the investment amount, before break-even happened.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT

Â&#x2021;$GRSWLQJ D SUDFWLFDO EHQW RI VWUDWHJ\ Â&#x2021; )RFXVLQJ RQ D VLQJOH SURGXFW RQOLQH SUHVHQFH DQG DGYHUWLVLQJ DQGÂ&#x2021;)RFXVLQJ RQ supporting the Indian sales culture and customising quickly Founder: Narasimhan (Kishore) Mandyam for larger customers Age: 48, Year of Inception: 2006, City: Bangalore, Number of Employees: 18, Awardss/Recognitions: mBillionth GROWTH & EXPANSION $ZDUG IRU P+HDOWK 1$66&20 $SS)DPH $ZDUG The growth of the company was almost double with a 90 per NASSCOM Emerge Top 10 company in 2009 cent figure.

JSON POLYMER

CONCEPTION Laxman N. Jadhav did Entrepreneurship course from MCED in 1990 and got the idea of starting business for automotive rubber component U ON, J GAAD A project Json Polymer Pvt. Ltd. NO N U J

Poly-technique

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

TA K E

Json Polymer is manufacturing automotive rubber component which goes in OEM auto sector and in dim exports. Its Reverse Analysis, R&D facility, Brilliant process control is unique.

We do not believe in Junoon, Jugaad and Luck. These three factors affect our business zero per cent. We believe in PDCA cycle (Plan, Do, Check & Act).

THE MODEL

The entrepreneur invested ` 95 lakh to start his business. It took 1 year to reach the break-even. Now he has the CC facility with SBI for ` 86.5 lakh and he will have the finance from SBI for the further growth of his venture.

SUCCESS STRATEGY Â&#x2021; $ KLJKO\ PRWLYDWHG ZRUNIRUFH UHDG\ WR DGRSW QHZ WKLQJV DQG Â&#x2021; 3UR DFWLYHQHVV WRZDUGV FXVWRPHU UHTXLUHPHQW

GROWTH & EXPANSION In the last one year, from 1st July 2010 to 30th August 2011, Laxman witnessed extensive growth in his business in comparison to previous year. The annual turnover during this time reached 5.2 crores. Now he is managing all activity in 4,000 sq. feet area and planning in MIDC 80,000 sq.feet. For upgradation technology he has placed the order for Injection Moulding machine. Now he is planning to reach a turnover of ` 6 crore. Upto 2014, it should be minimum ` 15 crore and a minimum workforce of 100 people. 104

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

SNAPSHOT Founder: Laxman Jadhav Age: 44 Year of Inception: 2009 City: Thane, Maharashtra Number of Employees: 38

RED GINGER HOSPITALITY

CONCEPTION

A Smile Per Meal

Gaurav Ahuja was a frequent visitor to Hard Rock Café and the idea struck him of starting a restaurant chain in India. And that is TA K E O N J U N how Red Ginger Hospitality was formed. OO N,

If the passion is backed by meticulously planned execution, success is only a matter of time. Jugaad is important especially in the initial years, as the entrepreneur is always running out of funds.

THE MODEL

GAA

Red Ginger Hospitality thrives on its core philosophy of “One Smile Per Meal”. Its distinctiveness is that all the food is freshly cooked just before being served to the customer.

D A N D LU C

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The initial money came from Gaurav and his family’s savings, by selling the equity portfolio he owned and breaking all the fixed deposits he had. Money was invested for the first 18 months, after which the business became cash positive.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT

Giving business the right initiative Working forcefully through a strong team Retaining kitchen staff and building a team spirit and Having a strong belief in systems and procedures right from day one

Founders: *DXUDY $KXMD 1HKD $KXMD GROWTH & EXPANSION Age: 32 & 29 Year of Inception: 2007 The company’s growth has been more than 70 per cent for the past City: Lucknow, Number of Employees: 200 + Awards/Recognitions: Awarded as one of the Top 25 two years. The outlet count is 24 at present from 16 till last year. The expansion would be drastic with several deals being signed Entrepreneurs by IIM Lucknow with leading mall developers all over the country.

AMAGI MEDIA LABS

CONCEPTION Amagi Media Labs works on the premise of bringing cityspecific advertising on a national platform.

TA K E O N J U

Spreading through Advertising

Amagi Media Labs has created a technology that allows local advertisers to get on the national TV platform to target their customers, but these spots work out to be less expensive and well targeted as the ads can only be seen in the city that the client is present in. By rolling out its patent-pending technology infrastructure across the country, the company enables different advertisements to be run in different regions on the exact same ad spot.

U Initial few months in the venture were really about Junoon. Jugaad is like having connections of that sort helped us. Luck is a critical part of any venture.

THE MODEL

UGAAD AND

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The company has raised ` 25 crore (around $ 5.4 million) from the Nadathur Group, taking the total funds raised from the Nadathur Group to ` 37 crore (around $ 8 million).

SUCCESS STRATEGY The main factor that led to make this initiative a success was: To make people aware about such a possibility.

GROWTH & EXPANSION Currently, the company has 10 offices in cities like Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai. Its services are operational across 26 cities right now. The aim is to reach 100 cities in the next 12 months.

SNAPSHOT Founders: Baskar S Srinivasan KA & Srividhya S Age: 37 (first two), & 36, respectively Year of Inception: 2008, City: Bangalore Number of Employees: 107 JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

105

PRESTO

Personalised SHUVRQLÀFDWLRQ

CONCEPTION

Anurag Poddar and Anil Jhawar were in search of a unique idea which would fulfill an otherwise non-existent consumer need. And personalisation was an area where there were no players and hence, O N J U N O O N, E K JU the idea of retailing personalised gifts took birth. Nothing TA AD

can be started without Junoon. Jugaad - we didn’t leave any stone unturned to get our target achieved. Luck was deﬁnitely there to play the role of lubricant.

A N D LU C K

THE MODEL The celebration of identity is the foundation on which Presto stands. It helps a customer in selecting gifts and by suggesting the appropriate product and then designing it as per taste.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

At the initial stage of the business, Anurag Poddar and Anil Jhawar got financial help from family and friends. It took about 3 years to reach a stable position. After that they reinvested money collected from profits and franchisees.

SNAPSHOT

SUCCESS STRATEGY

Founder: Anurag Poddar & Anil Jhawar Age: 37 & 48 Year of Inception: 1995 City: Kolkata Number of Employees: 150

GROWTH & EXPANSION

To evolve their ideas to make the products interesting for the consumer so that they can have the signature personalisation that they desire. In the last one year, Presto witnessed almost 50 per cent growth. Now the entrepreneurs are planning to extend the COCO Stores as well as FOFO Stores on a continuous basis to cover more geography.

JOSIAH TECHNOLOGY

CONCEPTION The idea for Josiah Technology emerged when the Mudgal entrepreneurs found that each and every company, whether small, medium or large, always requires network engineers for the intranetworking O O N, JUG JU N AA as well as extranet work. ON D E

UCK

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

Josiah Technology is a training company that provides computer networking training from a very basic level to the expert level; and gives 100 per cent placement to the students according to their training level.

TA K

To grab the opportunities specially when approval is in the hands of others, we need to use some Jugaad. And getting opportunities is a matter of luck and belief in yourself.

THE MODEL

Network Masters

Initially the entrepreneurs invested approx ` 40-50 lakh and they reached the break-even point within five months. As for further investments, they managed the money by selling their valuables and took from private investor on very high interest rate.

SUCCESS STRATEGY )RFXVLQJ RQ TXDOLW\ WUDLQLQJ (TXDO RSSRUWXQLW\ IRU HDFK VWXGHQW DQG &RUUHFW HYDOXDWLRQ RI WKHLU VNLOOV

GROWTH & EXPANSION The company has achieved fabulous growth in the last one year. According to the facts, it has already settled 500+ students in major MNCs. Now the entrepreneurs are planning to explore the international market on a very big level and make it the biggest training and network implementing company of the world. 106

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

SNAPSHOT Founders: : Yogesh Mudgal & Meenakshi Swami Mudgal, Age: 26, Year of Inception: 2010, City: Bangalore, Number of Employees: 50-55, Award: Karnataka Service of Excellence 2011

REAL PLASTICS

CONCEPTION

Resource for Compass Boxes

The idea of business in polymerisation sphere came from a friend when he was doing a course in Plastic and Rubber manufacturing.

O N J U N O O N, THE MODEL KE JU A Junoon Real Plastics manufactures a wide range of T played a compass boxes such as stationery, empty boxes, major role in our food pouches, plastic bags, gift boxes, food and entrepreneurship success. drink takeouts, etc. It develops product design, Jugaad helped to build presentation, fitting and colours of all custom networking with suppliers boxes and pouches as per clientsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; requirement. AD

A N D LU C K

and customers. Luck always favoured us in whatever FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING we wanted to do for The entrepreneurs invested ` 1.25 crore in two our business. different phases. They started making profit from the 1st year and reached a break-even point within one year.

SUCCESS STRATEGY

SNAPSHOT Founder: Kanak M. Nirmal, Rajesh M. Nirmal, Bharat J. Nirmal & Ketan M. Nirmal Age: 47, 45, 40 & 37 Year of Inception: 1997 City: Mumbai, Number of Employees: 150

Â&#x2021;.HHSLQJ VDIHW\ IDFWRUV ZDV WKH XWPRVW SULRULW\ Â&#x2021;0DLQWDLQLQJ SULFH WR TXDOLW\ UDWLR Â&#x2021;'HVLJQLQJ SURGXFWV ZKLFK DUH WHFKQLFDOO\ VRXQG

GROWTH & EXPANSION For the last one year, the company witnessed 15 per cent growth in real plastics. Now it is planning to set-up a new manufacturing unit with more than 100 per cent manufacturing capacity.

KAMATHS OURTIMES ICE CREAMS

D LU CK

THE MODEL

D AN

Kulfi although popular in the sub-continent, could not sustain its popularity like other desserts. Raghunandan Kamath was deeply concerned with this hindrance, and pondering over it reached the solution - creation of a sensational combination of Kulfi and ice cream.

CONCEPTION

,J Without â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Junoonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; all the work seems difďŹ cult and impossible to achieve. Can never rule out â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Jugaadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; factor in business, but it often leads to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;innovative waysâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to get your work done. I strongly believe fortune favours the brave.

Favouring Ice Creams Naturally

O N JU N TAKE OO

Kamathâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ourtimes ice cream uses ingredients which are completely natural and sourced from India. Preservatives, stabilisers and artificial colours or chemicals are not used. The only products used are milk, fruits and sugar, hence, making the end product delicious and wholesome.

FROM SEED FUND TO FUNDING

The venture started with ` 3 lakh, and the break-even was in less than a yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time.

GROWTH & EXPANSION With existing 25 stores, which include stores launched for the first time in places like Jaipur, Bangalore, Hyderabad and outside Maharashtra, the Founder: Raghunandan Kamath business aims at opening 150 stores by 2015, Age: 57, City: Mumbai, Year of Inception: 1984, Number of Employees: 60, taking the total count to 250 stores. Its plans Awards/Recognitions: &RFD &ROD *ROGHQ 6SRRQ $ZDUGV of global expansion include markets of 0RVW $GPLUHG UHWDLOHU LQ 'HVVHUW Â&#x2021; &RUSRUDWLRQ %DQNV 1DWLRQDO U.A.E, Sri Lanka, Nepal and few others in 60( ([FHOOHQF\ $ZDUG Â&#x2021; (FRQRPLF 7LPHV 5LVLQJ 6WDU South East Asia.

SNAPSHOT

JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

107

MEETING | Hotel

The Claridges

A BUSINESS TOWER Make your business move in the luxury of a 5 Star....Business today is no longer WKH RIÀFH ERDUG URRP EXW KDV EHFRPH WKH ¶([HFXWLYH /RXQJH· RI D 6WDU SAPNA BHARDWAJ xploring the existing luxury hotels, we found The Claridges top on the list. The Claridges, standing tall for more than five decades is a 5-Star, executing flawlessly as a ‘Business Hotel’. Incorporating the vision ‘Graciously Indian’, the hotel has to its credit won international acclaims and bagged the World Travel Awards 2010. The Claridges at present makes its presence in three locations in India. The Claridges, Aurangzeb Road, New Delhi site is located at the centre of the city in close proximity of business districts, shopping and cultural centres and historical landmarks, exhibiting courteous Indian hospitality. The Claridges, Surajkund, NCR is its second locale. Surajkund is located in the neighbourhood of Delhi, making it an ideal place for leisure and rejuvenation. Overlooking a 10th Century heritage Surajkund Lake Complex, the resort’s tranquil ambience has made it one of the most sought after business meeting point. The gracious classiness of the bygone Raj era can be experienced at The Claridges Nabha Residence, Mussoorie. An excellent summer retreat with its distinctly Victorian feel, this site captures the tranquillity of Mussoorie of yesteryears. The Claridges Bharatpur Palace, Rajasthan, is a future endeavour to be operative in 2013-2014.

108

CORPORATE USAGE

ECONOMICALLY VIABLE

FUTURE AS A BUSINESS HOTEL

All major national and international companies have leisured the business infrastructure for all corporate travels and conference requirements.

Being a part of resurgent postindependence India and a host to several significant gatherings, it offers choices and suits SME needs.

Expanding its forte as a business hotel, it is set to unveil ‘The Claridges Terrace Garden’, which will be available as an extended business venue.

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

1. BOARD ROOM

The two board rooms are cinnamon and sage, each a 10-seater board room, has a common prefunction area of 2,500 sq.ft. It is furnished with state-of-the-art equipment and communication facilities including video conferencing.

2. MEETING ROOM Fennel, Thyme, Basil and Cilantro are the four meeting rooms located at the mezzanine level. All the rooms are equipped 2 to meet the business requirements. Accommodating 10-150 guests, the meeting rooms are an ultimate venue for all kinds of meetings.

3. PRE-FUNCTION AREA The pre-function area is a three-sided area of 4,750 sq.ft. The area being the only one-ofits-kind in the city comfortably accommodates 250 persons.

4. CONFERENCE ROOM

Named Saffron, the pillar-less conference room offers 12,000 sq.ft of conferencing space with an accommodation of around 10 to 1,500 people.

AUDIO-VISUAL FACILITIES

State-of-the-art audio-visual technology, adjustable dimmer lighting, cordless phone ,white board, secretariat room with business facilities, advanced telecommunication system, built-in video conferencing system, plasma screens, wireless microphones, ceiling speakers, CD/DVD player with digital and analogue recording facility, high resolution data projectors, electronically operated concealable projection screens and wireless high speed internet connection have been provided for.

JANUARY 2012 | SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR

109

TECH-KNOWLEDGE | Review

Tab vs. Tablet

WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S YOUR CHOICE? ,W LV DQ DJH RI PRGHUQ JDGJHWV WKH WHFKQRORJLFDO DGYDQFHPHQWV KDYH EHHQ LPPHQVH 7KHVH JDGJHWV DOWKRXJK TXLWH OLNHDEOH DUH QRW ZLWKRXW Ă DZV $QG LQ D UDFH WR FRPSHWH ZLWK HDFK RWKHU D JDGJHW ZDU 7DE YV 7DEOHW KDV EHJXQ

LEENA GUHA ROY

ith the launch of the much-awaited iPad by Apple, this era has truly witnessed a technological revolution. These days, the corporate employees are no longer impressed by the company-issued BlackBerry as their only mobile option. Even when it comes to owning a single mobile, more and more employees are opting to use their own smartphones powered by operating systems such as iPhone OS or Androids for business purposes. But what is the reason behind it? The only reason is todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s smartphone is no longer just a smartphone; it has become the smartest phone that works directly for business functions.

110

SMALL MEDIUM ENTREPRENEUR | JANUARY 2012

Yesterdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s smartphone users can really understand that a mobile functioning has moved way ahead; from being a simple messaging platform to becoming a multifaceted platform for a plethora of applications of the Web, its features have increasingly multiplied to attract the new generation consumers. This means that the makers are constantly innovating new-generation devices to stay ahead of the times. This is the story whether the company is Apple or Google, Research in Motion or others. And these pioneering companies have begun coinages like â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;tabletâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;tabâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; leading to a war-like competition. And today, all of a sudden, the battle of tabs versus tablet has

become fierce. The electronicmakers have put in considerable efforts to take on the current reigning champion of the tablet market. Apple came up with iPad in January 2010. Since then, we have been hearing about many upcoming tablet category devices that would give the iPad a real competition. But all that proved to be a hollow claim. In the month of October in 2010, Samsung offered Galaxy Tab. To some, the Galaxy Tab is an â&#x20AC;&#x153;iPad-wannabeâ&#x20AC;? device, a compact and too small a device. For others, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a prolonged version of the popular Galaxy Tab Android phone, minus the ability to make calls. But no doubt, it can be a flaming arrow in the iPadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s thatched roof. The tablet war did not stop

here. Right after Galaxy 7, Samsung revealed its improved version, Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1. The battle heated up when Apple came up with a new tablet blockbuster iPad 2, and according to some people, iPad 2 is definitely the leader. The battle behind the newly launched, refreshed edition or improved version of the product involves incorporating the company’s unique innovative features. It could be its in-built feature count, built quality, user-friendly display or third party apps support, etc. This competition provides the consumers a good option to choose from while selecting business functionality applications. An iPad has a surface area that makes it conducive to reading, playing games or watching movies. The interaction with one’s fingers gives the user greater freedom than a 3.5-inch smart phone’s screen. In comparison, the Galaxy’s screen is about three times the surface area of most smartphones, including the iPhone. The iPad, of course, is much larger, and being fully clad in aluminum, weighs slightly

IF GALAXY TAB IS AKIN TO A TABLET, IPAD IS STILL THE TABLET. WHEN IT COMES TO TABLET FUNDAMENTALS, THIS IS HOW THE GALAXY TAB MEASURES UP TO THE IPAD. more than its counterpart. Most importantly, the difference in diagonal screen size actually means that the iPad has twice the touch surface. While reading on a tightscreen of the smartphone could be annoying, iPad too, has its share of problems. For example, it is too big and unwieldy for many people. The Galaxy is about the size of a large trade paperback, and can be loaded with the Kindle and Nook apps for reading e-books. And Android’s OS makes it easy to access system brightness, a must for people who read at night. Reading on an iPad requires some extra energy and effort. But we can expect that iPad makers will think about this concern when they come out with the new iPad OS.

A battery life is the key concern when users utilise the tablet as an e-book reader, and the Galaxy Tab is not impressive in this regard. The iPad boasts of a high battery durability of 13 hours a charge while Galaxy Tab’s battery is closer to 7 or 8 hours, notably less than an iPad. Why is the Galaxy Tab a contender when it does not have all the features as in the other deserving tablet iPad? It’s important to note that it seizes on the things users actually do with a tablet that they are not able to do with a smartphone. In this regards, we can say that the Galaxy Tab is a whole lot more than a smartphone and falling just a bit short of a tablet. If Galaxy Tab is akin to a tablet, iPad is still the tablet. When it comes to tablet fundamentals, this is how the Galaxy Tab measures up to the iPad. Now what will be your pick when you decide to buy any such device? Which one of these relatively equal priced devices would you give your hard earned cash for? Choose well!

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:KDWÂ·V RXU UHWXUQ RQ OXFN" Jim Collins Jim Collins is a student and teacher of enduring great companies â&#x20AC;&#x201D; how they grow, how they attain superior performance, and how good companies can become great companies. Having invested nearly a quarter of a century of research into the topic, Jim has authored or co-authored six books that have sold in total more than ten million copies worldwide.

Morten T. Hansen Morten T. Hansen is a management professor at the University of California, Berkeley (School of Information), and at INSEAD. He is the author of Collaboration and the winner of the Administrative Science Quarterly Award for exceptional contributions to the field of organization studies.

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