Secrets of Success 30 Indian entrepreneurs reveal all!

Indian business leaders like Narayana Murthy, Shahnaz Husain, Rahul Bajaj and Subhash Chandra among many others are well known public figures. They’re constantly in the news for their business ventures, strategies, enormous wealth and fabulous lifestyles. Unfortunately, most often these are the only things we read about these famous people. As a result, most of us don’t know the real personalities behind these enormous businesses… and it’s about time that we did. It would be nice to look beyond their public images and learn how these business stalwarts actually achieved their dreams. Was it luck, inheritance, chance or hard work?

I am happy to say that there is finally a book which answers all these questions, Added Value by Peter Church.

Peter Church is the founder and chairman of the AFG Venture Group, a corporate advisory firm and is Special Counsel to Blake Dawson, a leading Australian law firm. In his book Added Value, Peter Church has written about the lives, trials and tribulations of thirty Indian business leaders who have added value to their own businesses as well as to India as a nation.

After a successful launch in India (New Delhi) in April this year, Added Value was launched in Melbourne on 17 May by Anita Nayar, the Consul General of India in Melbourne. The book launch was held at the Sidney Myer Asia Centre at the University of Melbourne and was organised by Asialink which is a non-academic centre of the time to have drinks, mingle and network with other guests and purchase a copy of the book which was available for sale at the venue. It was nice to see that the event was a house-full given that it was a rather cold evening on a working day.

Anita Nayar praised Peter Church’s book for steering away from clichéd business families like the Tatas and Ambanis and instead broadening the spectrum to other business leaders each one of whom have excelled in their own fields. Another interesting fact that Ms. Nayar highlighted was that Peter Church had about an hour to interact with and interview most of the personalities in the book. This, in her own words was “a commendable feat of journalism”. I absolutely have to agree!

When quizzed upon his choice of subject, the author explained that his work and career had led him to be involved with many countries of Asia, including India. Having read and heard about these interesting entrepreneurs, he wanted to see for himself just what it is that makes them tick. The life stories behind the millions...the real people

That was the idea, and the rest as they say

In his presentation Peter Church talked briefly about some of the personalities in the book and how even though each person had a different business and background, the common thread that ran among them was “focus, determination, dedication and timing”. He read snippets from his book about a few of his subjects YK Hamied (Cipla), GVK Reddy (GVK Group), Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (Biocon), Captain CP Krishnan Nair (The Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts) and Captain GR Gopinath (Air Deccan/Kingfisher).

Mr. Church kept his presentation brief, interesting and peppered with amusing incidents that happened whilst he was his description of the grandeur of Shahnaz Husain’s house in Delhi and how that very grandeur extended to her personality as her staff referred to her as “Princess Shahnaz”.

The end of the presentation was followed by a Q&A session and guests could get copies of their books signed in person by Mr Church.

It was a well spent Monday evening indeed, and guests left feeling enlightened and exhilarated that someone had taken such keen interest in Indian business leaders, talking about them through a medium that is likely to be positively received internationally.

To procure your own copy of this inspirational book, go to the AFG Venture Group website at: http://www.afgventuregroup.com/global/ publications_addedvalueindia.php

Alternatively, you can purchase the book from the Melbourne University bookshop by contacting –Andrew Cerchez, Office Administrator

Tel: (03) 8344 6217, Mobile: 0422 996 401 Email: a.cerchez@unimelb.edu.au

Natasha Ghai