A maze

Entrepreneurship - A New Vogue

Investeurs Consulting, formerly known as Investeurs Trade Lincs (India)

Private Limited, took its first breath in August 1994 and got its first major

breakthrough on 17th November, 2004 – got empanelment with Scotia Bank

and became leaders in the portfolio of LC negotiation in a year. Since then, we

celebrate 17th November as Investeurs Founder’s Day.

Investeurs, brainchild of Manish Dutta clubbed with courageous spirit of

Rajen Dutta, started its journey to add professional attribute to the then

unorganized financial sector. With a systematic and professional approach,

Investeurs received recognition not only from its clients but also from reputed

banks thereby gaining an edge over others. Over the years, Team Investeurs

has ensured that its service standards quality meet its client expectations.

Investeurs ventured in the financial service sector to provide specialized trade

finance services and moved on to offer end to end advisory and consultancy

services. Over the years, Investeurs has developed dealings with various

Banks, Private and National Banks, to name a few are SBI, BoB, Corporation

Bank, OBC, INGVysya Bank, HDFC bank, IDBI Bank, DBS, Kotak Bank, ICICI

Bank, SboIndia, SboPatiala, RBS, Standard Chartered Bank and many more to

ensure we provide adept solution to our clients.

We have expanded our business over the years which would not have been

possible without the help of our clients and associates. We take this

opportunity to thank all our clients and associates to make us so strong to hold

many more products, services, concepts, clients and banks in it.

“Investeurs has all the ingredients of what we normally call a ‘Dream organization’. Manish & Rajen created a family than a company wherein each and every member plays an important role to drive company’s growth. We want to thank them on this special day for making us all feel so special in their own way.”

Team Investeurs

India is the youngest nation in the world with about 41% of its population being youth. The greatest challenge faced by India is to who will provide jobs to

all these youth, spread from cities, metros to villages? The answer lies in the question itself - The youth alone. What it means is a great many young people

have never-before opportunity of becoming a job-creator rather than job-seeker.

First-generation entrepreneurs quite often start small firms with small investments and then, once established, some of them grow to larger firms. Let’s

look at some of the entrepreneurs with whose story we all are familiar with:

Round Up – Stories we are familiar with

In last two decades, India has witnessed growth of first generation entrepreneurs many of whom have make it big in the corporate world.

Let’s start with the obvious example, Sunil Mittal, who’s Bharti Airetl is the largest cellular service provider in India & fifth largest telecom operator in the

world. Ten years ago, Mittal would not have made it to even the B list of Indian businessmen, forget the A list. Today, when it comes to telecom, he is

ahead of established stalwarts like Tata and Reliance and of a global major like Vodafone.

Then there is Naresh Goyal and Jet Airways, which emerged as the largest airline in the country in barely 15 years having upstaged the erstwhile state-

owned monopoly, Indian Airlines, and bought up a private sector rival, Sahara. Half a dozen other start-ups (some started by people with more impressive

business histories, like the Modis) have fallen by the wayside, and Jet seems set to take on the new low-cost contenders who are backed by big money -

Wadia and Mallya, among others.

Indeed, the other impressive airline start-up is again a first-generation entrepreneur, Capt. Gopinath, who has grown his fledgling company - Deccan

Aviation by adding one new plane every month for two years. Though it got merged with Kingfisher later, we still have a remarkable story of first

generation entrepreneur.

When it comes to the sunrise sector of organized retailing, the big boys on the block are Kishore Biyani and B S Nagesh. 'Kishore who?', you would have

asked a decade ago. Today, Pantaloon and Shoppers' Stop are the ones who have done better than the big boys in the same game, Tata (Trent) and the RPG

group.

And when it comes to privatizing the country's leading airports, those who have managed to bag contracts and get into the cockpit are again first-

generation names that most people would not have been familiar with: GM Rao and GVK Reddy. Both have interesting histories in banking, power and

hoteliering, among other things, and both are now ready to be catapulted into the big league after winning the airport bids against celebrities with

household surnames.

The story goes much further. One merely has to mention software and the names that crop up are Narayana Murthy and Azim Premji, Shiv Nadar. Then

there is Subhash Chandra, the owner of an amusement park who pioneered satellite TV in India and who in a few years built a business that rivals the

oldest and largest media house in the country; Uday Kotak, who has founded a bank that hopes to become another ICICI; Rajeev Chandrashekhar, an

engineer who came back from the US and set up a telecom business before selling out and getting ready to enter freight transport - just when the railways

have privatized the container business; Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, who has pioneered the biotech industry in India; TV entrepreneurs Prannoy Roy and

Raghav Behl, who are India's news kings; and Jignesh Shah, yet another first-generation entrepreneur in a sunrise sector, who in yet another David-Goliath

situation has set up a commodity exchange that is battling for market leadership with a rival exchange set up by some of the biggest financial players in

the country. One can go on.

Changing Face of Entrepreneurship Over the years, the stereotype of an entrepreneur is changing. No longer is he or she from the metros. And, nor necessarily does he or she have a strong

family backing to break into business. The emerging entrepreneur of today may be from a Tier 2 or 3 towns. He could be a graduate with an idea and the

confidence to translate it into a viable business. The entrepreneur of today relies more on the network he has created — some with family and many with

friends. But some of the traits of entrepreneurs of the previous generation remain — passion, commitment, integrity. The new–age entrepreneur is willing

to accept failure, go to work for someone else, and come back with a fresh idea after a few years.

India has an ever growing pool of entrepreneurial aptitude ready to take on global competition. Being an entrepreneur is probably one of the most

challenging and demanding lifestyle a person can choose to have, but it is probably the most rewarding lifestyle to have if he succeeds.

Today, India is witnessing new ideas being rolled out into a business model every minute with more and more people ready to take a plunge. New

entrepreneurs face diverse challenges and to help them overcome these challenges today we have various resources available that are ready to help these

new young entrepreneurs. These resources are helping in bringing innovation to the market, building unique brands, nurturing trends, giving back and

making money along the way. Let’s quickly look at some of the resources that are providing platform to young entrepreneurs:

Indian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (IVCA - http://www.indiavca.org)

Venture capital (VC) investments have provided the necessary funding and guidance to turn ideas and concepts into products and services in the market

which drive industries forward. These investments are also critical in ensuring the most promising and viable ideas, technologies, and business models are

screened with great due diligence and receive the most support. IVCA has been established to promote the development of venture capital and private

equity industry in India thereby supporting entrepreneurial activity and innovation. IVCA serves as a platform for not only entrepreneurs but also for

investment funds to interact with each other.

Early stage funding or seed funding is a risky proposition but with India becoming a mature market, more and more VC funds are lining up investment plans for India. Venture funds are seeing limited downside potential while investing in Indian start-ups.

National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN - www.nenonline.org)

National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN - www.nenonline.org)

NEN supports high growth entrepreneurs, driving economic growth and job creation in India. NEN represents India’s largest and most dynamic

community of new and future high-growth entrepreneurs, with over 70,000 members in 30 cities. It provides critical support to start-ups and

early-stage entrepreneurs through high-impact entrepreneurship education; access to mentors and experts; fast-track access to incubation and

funding; and learning tools and materials. It partners with over 470 top-tier academic institutes in India to help them develop vibrant

entrepreneurship ecosystems on campus, which develop and support new and future entrepreneurs. In addition, it runs Entrepreneurship Week

India, the country’s largest entrepreneurship-awareness campaign. In 2009, E Week India featured over 3500 events with more than 350,000

participants.

Yourstory (www.yourstory.in)

Yourstory’s purpose of existence is to evaluate, expound and showcase the awesome spark of creation in every entrepreneur. Their passion for

entrepreneurship and its resounding global resonance is only matched by the zeal to bring our peers onto a singular platform for free flowing

exchange of ideas and visions. It works from all over India to bring the best and the brightest Young Entrepreneurs into the limelight they

deserve. The Yourstory team operates across India remaining in touch through the miracles of modern technology bringing Entrepreneurs to the

forefront, come rain, hail sleet or snow. The YourStory Team brings entrepreneurial news, trends happenings and stories from all over India.

This small but robust group has given week after week of entrepreneurial content since YourStory was founded despite working in different

locations.

Young Turks (http://youngturks.in.com)

Young Turks is initiative of Network18 - one of India's leading full play media conglomerates with interests in television, print, internet, filmed

entertainment, mobile content and allied businesses. The show focuses on the Young Turks or budding first generation entrepreneurs and

showcases the story of their entrepreneurial journey and future plans.

Angel Investment Network 

http://www.investmentnetwork.in      

Startups in India 

http://startups.in/India/ 

Young Indian Entrepreneurs 

http://yielive.com/index.aspx

TiE Global 

www.tie.org 

VentureWoods 

www.venturewoods.org 

Young Entrepreneur 

www.youngentrepreneur.com

Links – Online Platforms for Entrepreneurs / Investors

Back to Academics – Entrepreneurship Focus Programs

A new trend that has been observed the last 10-15 years is that the Generation Next of the traditional entrepreneurial communities is going for

higher/professional education.

To promote entrepreneurship, we have many reputed and prestigious institutes in India offering courses for those who are passionate to choose

‘Entrepreneurship’ as a profession. It is always considered to be a better idea to join a formal training before setting your foot forward as an

entrepreneur. Some of these institutes are:

IIM, Ahmedabad, Bangalore & Kolkata  

All  India  Management  Association  Center  for  Management  Education,  New 

Delhi  

Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), New Delhi  

Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, Gujarat  

FICCI, New Delhi  

Small Industries Service Institute, New Delhi  

National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development, New Delhi 

National  Institute  for  Entrepreneurship  and  Small  Business  Development 

(NIESBUD), New Delhi  

ASEED and Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII), New Delhi  

Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM), New Delhi 

Institute of Marketing and Management (IMM), New Delhi  

Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jharkhand  

Xavier Institute of Management (XIM), Orissa  

Management Development Institute, Haryana  

Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management (IIITM), Madhya 

Pradesh  

Symbiosis Center for Management, Maharashtra  

Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. 

Indian school of Business (ISB), Hyderabad 

Torch bearers of Innovations Entrepreneurship is dream turned into reality with hints of innovation and management. India is emerging and witnessing growth of startup

companies which will be the real booster of Indian economy in future. We believe that with innovations both at the provider (resources) and

acceptor (entrepreneurs) level, entrepreneurship will be the engine of tomorrow’s economy.

We came across many startups that have unique business models that speak of human intellect at its best. We are sharing below some of the

companies which we found interesting.

AccessAbility – 2006 (http://www.accessability.co.in)

A leading Universal Design and Disability Employment Specialist empowering organizations to welcome, engage, and service diversity by helping them

create an inclusive and barrier free environment. Persons with disabilities bring to the table a large untapped potential, both as consumers of products

and services and as human resource for the (high growth) manpower crunched industry. AccessAbility helps mitigate the structural, attitudinal and

policy barriers which currently prevent the organisations from recognising that potential enhancing their socio-economic value.

AccessAbility offers a range of professional services such as Disability Employment and Post Employment Services, Disability Sensitization Training,

Architectural Access Consultancy, Policy Auditing etc.

Agri Tourism Development Corporation – 2005 (www.agritourism.in)

An initiative of the ATDC Baramati, Agri-Tourism is an emerging trend in the tourism segment. The idea is to make tourists live the life of a villager,

right from milking cows, ploughing fields, bathing in a well, to climbing trees and plucking fruits. Also, because directly or indirectly we are all linked

to agriculture and most of the people in the country would like to see how their forefathers lived. Most of the tourists feel nostalgic after visiting a

farm or working alongside a farmer. That is the main appeal of agri-tourism. Started in 2005, such agri-tourism initiatives are already in operation in

Malegaon, Katewadi, Murti, Jogawadi villages in Baramati talulka.

Bamboo House India – (www.babmboohouseindia.org)

Bamboo House India is a social enterprise providing sustainable livelihood opportunities to rural and tribal artisans in the bamboo sector through

business models designed to work at base of the economic pyramid and promote bamboo as an eco friendly substitute to wood, steel, iron & plastic.

Bamboo applications range from bamboo pens to bamboo t-shirts to bamboo laptops to bamboo speakers to bamboo soap. Bamboo House India is

working on setting up a chain of exclusive bamboo showrooms across the country and commercializes IIT-Delhi’s bamboo bow beam technology for

rural housing.

Any Surprise Any Place – 2007 (www.asap.co.in)

Any surprise any place or ASAP packages surprises with personalized gifts sent on customer’s behalf. If anyone has not surprised his wife, parents,

boss, girlfriends, sons, daughters, or even a colleague…just call them and they will do anything you want. From something sophisticated to anything

from a holiday to personalized silverware or a limo ride with champagne to simple chocolates and wine to wide range of corporate gifts, a dinner for

two with flowers, chilled champagne and a violinist...anything simple/ crazy /wild or sophisticated, ASAP is here with a solution to all.

Entrepreneurship is in vogue in India and is taking off in a big way. With vibrant markets, availability of resources to turn dreams into reality, India

has indeed become a fertile ground for breeding new entrepreneurs. If we examine closely, in last two decades any new industry that has grown to

prominence, has seen a ‘New King on the Block’. India is still emerging and we hope the new wave of startups will lead to conclusive growth of the

Indian economy.

“Small stories may remain small, turn big and even may fade away but the zeal we see in today’s young entrepreneurs is here to stay.”