Entrepreneurship development

Prem Ganapathy - The Dosa Tycoon

Prem Ganapathy is an Indian entrepreneur and businessman who is the founder of the restaurant chain Dosa Plaza .

Perfection is only bestowed to those who cultivate the habit of self-reliance.

"Excellence can only be achieved through experience and experienced are those who are self-dependents."

Same is the case with Prem Ganapathy, who is actually born in a very poor family in Nagalapuram, Tamil Nadu. But due to his constant efforts and dedication, he is a big businessman today.

Prem Ganapathy was only 17 when he left his family behind in his village, without informing them. He had pinned his hopes on the assurance of work from an acquaintance, in search of a job, meaning, and a livelihood. He came to Mumbai, but was stranded on Bandra station, when the acquaintance left him and ran away. Out of pity, a fellow Tamilian guided him to a temple and appealed worshippers to contribute money for his return ticket to Chennai.

It is said that great people see opportunities even in problems. Prem refused to return and decided to work in Mumbai and started cleaning utensils in a restaurant. He appealed to his owner to let him become a waiter as he was matric pass. The owner refused, because of regional politics and Prem bided his time till a neighbourhood dosa restaurant opened and offered him a job of a tea boy.

Prem became a huge hit with the customers because of his excellent customer service, initiatives, and relationship and brought business Rs. 1000 daily which was almost 3 times as compared to other tea boys. Life was good. Then, a customer made him an offer, who was planning to open a tea shop in Vashi in Mumbai. He wanted Prem to be his 50-50 partner where he would invest the money and Prem would run the shop. The shop started doing brisk business when the owner became greedy. It hurt him to share 50% of the profit with Prem and so he  replaced Prem with an employee.

But Prem refused to be defeated. He took a loan from his uncle and with his brother, opened his own tea stall. Unfortunately the neighbourhood residents objected. He also started a hand cart but that did not work out too. Prem found a spot and started his South Indian stall. He knew nothing about dosas and idli but learnt by observation, and trial and error. The small shop was a huge hit and flourished due to its hygiene, proper appearances of waiters, and fresh ingredients used. Prem also learned to use a computer with the assistance offered by his friends. “I took a break of two hours every evening and spent the time surfing at a cyber cafe. I used to read about various businesses and learned quite a lot. My brothers also played a crucial role in making the business a success,” he says.

He saved a couple of lakhs of rupees and instead of heading home, took the greatest risk of his life and opened a new shop near Vashi station, naming it Dosa Plaza. He started making Chinese cuisine in his dosas, after his Chinese Plaza next to Dosa Plaza failed. Prem got passionate and invented a variety of dosas with Chinese like Schezwan Dosa, Paneer chilly, Spring roll dosa, etc. The 108 types of Dosas in his menu attracted a lot of publicity. He took a stall at a food court in New Bombay, which was being set up.

 He also went to ad agencies to create the brand identity including the logo, brands, menu card, waiters dress, etc. He started getting a lot of offers for franchising and he had to find its meaning and modus operandi. As of 2012,Dosa Plaza has 45 outlets in India and 7 international outlets in 3 countries. Prem Ganapathy did not give up and always had positive thoughts. That's what helped him become a successful entrepreneur. There can be hundreds of Prem Ganapathy, the only constraints exist in their minds.

'Failures defeat losers, Failures inspire winners' - Robert Kiyosaki.

Hanmant Gaikwad: King of Housekeeping!

Hanmant Gaikwad, like millions, too had big dreams and a mighty vision. But what distinguishes him from the rest?

When he embarked on the journey, he had no bank balance, no fancy degree. But today his company Bharat Vikas Services has an annual turnover of rupees 300 crore!

Being born in a small village called Koregoan in Satara district Hanmant didn’t have an easy childhood . His father worked as a clerk in the court. His family shifted to Pune when he was in grade six. His father was incurably ill, therefore his mother decided to take up a job as a teacher in a municipal school and at times she would have to sell her ornaments for her husband’s treatments.

Hanmant needed one rupee to travel to school but even that was hard to come! Even though Hanmant didn’t have an ideal childhood, he successfully completed his diploma in electronics and began working in Philips. By this time he had lost his father. Hanmant now wanted to complete his degree, but their financial status was in shambles. The family’s only source of income was a teacher’s salary of rupees 2300.

This is when Hanmant took the strings in his hands. In the beginning Hanmant began doing odd jobs like taking tuitions, painting, etc. Life began getting better for him, but Hanmant had higher goals.

 In 1993, he formed the organization called Bharat Vikas Prathishthan. This organization bagged a really big opportunity of constructing pathways at Belawadi stadium. The first contract of BVG was completed very soon, though it wasn’t a cakewalk but it was quite an experience! On 22^nd May it acquired its first housekeeping contract for 8 people. The job was to clean the Indica plant which was coming up at that time. In its very first year, Bharat Vikas earned a turnover of 8 lakhs, and rose to 56 lakhs in the next year. In 1999, Hanmant changed the name of the company from Bharat Vikas Prathishthan to Bharat Vikas Services. Next up BVG got its first mechanized cleaning contract for the Indica plant.

“Bachpan se aadat main kisi ke saath competition nahi karta. Jitna mehnat kiya, utna mujhe aana chahiye. Company ke liye, main jitna mehnat karta hoon, utna aana chahiye.”

BVG then began getting inquiries from Bangalore. He accepted it as a challenge which resulted in creating 7-8 customers in Bangalore which then spread to Chennai, followed by Hyderabad. BVG had now conquered the south.

“For railway stations or airports, there is no holiday… no Dussehra, no Diwali. For this kind of operations you need a proper system of work. Vo system humne develop kiya.”

In 2003, Bharat Vikas had an annual turnover of Rs 4 crore. And the company now got a big break to maintain the library of  parliament in New Delhi. In 2004, BVG received the contract of maintaining the Parliament house. The MPs liked the quality of their work; they offered him the job to clean up the Prime Minister’s residence. He willingly accepted it.

The growth of the company in the private sector was booming too. Bajaj, Mahindra, Ashok Leyland, Hyundai, Volkswagen, FIAT, ONGC, ITC, Accenture are some of BVGs clients.

Today BVG has branches in 22 locations and 12 states. BVG works with around 300 organizations, which also include some non commercial ones.

BVG has taken up the task of maintaining six temples in Maharashtra on daily basis without any charges. They have taken it up as a social commitment.

“Dhandha karne ke liye bahut paise ki zaroorat nahin hai. Sachhe dil se, Imandari se kaam karo and you will be successful in whatever you do.”

Maybe it’s the ‘team work’ or the ‘never give up’ attitude or the ‘believe in yourself’ feeling; Hanmant’s story of moving from rags to riches has a lot to offer as a lesson for budding entrepreneurs.

-         Rtr. Sarah Chettiar

Manoj Bhargava: Billionaire Monk

“Follow your dream but make sure it’s the right dream, if your dream is to be a serial killer, please don’t”

                            -Manoj

We all want to make a difference but end up following convention by mindlessly chasing money and power.

Manoj didn’t follow convention, he put in immense hard work and used his own head to find his way.

Manoj was born in Lucknow and moved to Philadelphia with his family in the 1960s. He was super smart and for his undergrad degree, he got a scholarship in one of the most prestigious universities in the world – Princeton. While studying he did many odd jobs to pay his college tuition, like driving taxis and even manual labour. After finishing just a year at Princeton he decided to drop-out.

“It was great for a year, but I left for the same reason no one stays for five or six years, it's just an arbitrary number. I got what I needed out of Princeton in one year and after that I didn’t think it was useful.” – Manoj

What he did next was really crazy; but you will agree with me when I say it’s probably what shaped his life and made him what he is today. He spent the next 12 years at Hanslok Ashram in Delhi.

He returned to America and one day found himself at a small stall that claimed they had a drink which could boost your focus and productivity. Manoj tried it and it really worked, he immediately wanted to manufacture and sell such a drink.

What’s absolutely ridiculous is that he created the product, made a business plan, raised the funds, started the company and had his drink called Five-Hour energy on shelves in just 2 months.

“Whenever someone asks me, when do you want this ready? I usually reply 3 O'clock today. Do your maximum right now today.” - Manoj

When asked what does an entrepreneur need to be successful?

He replied - “Only two things – Common sense and a Sense of urgency”

Further asked, who should we learn this from?

He replied – “From your mom, because she’s probably done more management than your MBA professor.”

Manoj played tough, he sued the hell out of all the copycats like 6-Hour Power and 8-Hour Energy. He was involved in over 300 lawsuits and managed to win all of them. He didn’t let anyone steal a single penny of his business. This is also where you can see his patience and resilience; he never gave up.

Manoj was now worth over $4 billion but still lived in his modest 2-bedroom flat with his wife and son. He didn’t care for money; to him it was all meaningless.

“I realized, we are making a lot of money here and I had no interest in fancy stuff, what do I do with this?”

“There's an old story about a blind man heading towards the well and there's a guy who's watching if the blind man falls into the well. Who gets the blame if you're watching something that you can prevent? We've got to do something.” - Manoj

He pledged to use 99% of his wealth towards helping underprivileged people. He started another company called Innovation Ventures LLC.

Today his company has solutions to provide clean drinkable water to millions, green electricity in rural sectors and a solution to tackle 80% of all healthcare issues in a cost effective manner.

He also runs trusts like the Hans Foundation and Rural India Supporting Trust that are improving the lives of millions of Indians.

Manoj attributes all his success to keeping things simple, avoiding aggravation and using his head rather than his heart. This man not only achieved immense success but also made a difference in the world through his hard work and passion.

I hope we all learn something from the entrepreneurial lessons this rags to riches story has to offer.

                                                                        

Rtr. Parth Shah

Entrepreneurship is the capacity and willingness to develop, organize and manage a business venture along with any of its risks in order to make a profit. The most obvious example of entrepreneurship is the starting of new businesses. Entrepreneurial spirit is characterized by innovation and risk-taking, and is an essential part of a nation's ability to succeed in an ever changing and increasingly competitive global marketplace.

Entrepreneurship development is concerned with the study of entrepreneurial behaviour, the dynamics of business set-up, development and expansion of the enterprise. Entrepreneurship development (ED) refers to the process of enhancing entrepreneurial skills and knowledge through structured training and institution-building programmes. It basically aims to enlarge the base of entrepreneurs in order to hasten the pace at which new ventures are created. This accelerates employment generation and economic development.

The Rotaract Club of NM College is delighted to launch an avenue for the year 2016-17 that promotes entrepreneurship development.

Through this avenue of the club we seek to promote entrepreneurship development among college students. We aim to do so in the following ways -

1. Projects
2. Guest lectures and workshops
3. Industrial Visits
4. Publishing articles
5. Competitions
6. Other events

Throughout the process of creating awareness about entrepreneurship among students in various ways, we strive to inspire people to be leaders in the world.

Rtr. Amrita Kohli and Rtr. Megha Bajaj
Co-directors
Entrepreneurship Development
RCNM 2016-17