MACONZA april Issue
April Issue
EDITORIAL NOTE Hello everyone and greetings on World Entrepre-
CUP OF JOY!
4
neurship Day! April 17th might not strike a note in everybody‟s
JUST BELIEVE!
6
mind as a February 14th does or even for that matter a April 1 does. But it sure is one day that is bound to fill prospective Entrepreneurs with
WORKED OUT IN THE WORK PLACE!
7
joy and ambition. We at MACON believe that everyone has the potential to be an entrepre-
ATLA’S PARENTS
9
neur. We salute each one of our readers, the potential and the existing entrepreneurs for their daring spirits, creative ideas, confidence,
MICRO ENTREPRENEURSHIP
11
leadership and the many other qualities that gives their dreams the wings to fly.
CRY OUT TO THE CROWD
14
In this issue, we feature new forms of entrepreneurship and inspiring stories of entrepre-
CHASE AND HUNT
18
THE THREE SMART MEN
20
STEVE JOBS-A PHENOMENON
24
SACHDEV IN HIS SU-KAM WAY
28
neurs who have revolutionized our lifestyle and changed the way world spends a day. We hope that you enjoy reading this World Entrepreneurship Day Special Issue. Please mail your suggestions and comments to maconza.feedback@gmail.com
Happy Reading Team Maconza
Note: All Images found in the magazine are either non-copyrighted or have been given the license by the respective publisher to be used freely.
Maconza
MACON
The Entrepreneurship Cell
“Macon” means „to Create or to Build‟. The objective of launching the cell is to provide the common platform to those who aspire to be an entrepreneur and want to bring change in the society in a different way. These people can come together, express their views, show their passion, share their ideas, and nurture their dreams to see them turning into reality with the help of Macon. Through Macon‟s initiative, we try to bring out the entrepreneurial skills and provide with the vital support system that a budding entrepreneur demands. The Vision “MACON is a conglomerate of individuals with a vision, a dream which surely can come true. It is a place for all those who want to create their own path and leave behind the trails of success. The Cell aims at nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit and tremendous energy among individual to a level where they can bring about a positive change in the society…a change that we all aspire for. MACON believes an entrepreneurial mind is a mind of original ideas and aspires to extend all possible support to it‟s student and alumni members, in association with it‟s strategic partner, NEN, and enable them to realize their dreams.” The Mission “To ignite the spark of entrepreneurship amongst students from IBS and other institutes and provide a common platform for individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit to develop, nurture, share and grow their ideas.” Establishing a new enterprise requires skills that have to be nurtured from a very early stage. The huge potential and skills of management graduate of India needs to be tapped and each and every college has to take up initiatives of creating not just job seekers but also job providers. However motivation and information at the right stage could lead to birth and nurturing of future entrepreneurs at the graduate level. Even for those who do not aim to start an enterprise immediately, the cell will help in providing them the platform to demonstrate their entrepreneurial skills.
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April Issue
Opinion CUP OF JOY!
By Manohar S
much as they believe in themselves and they gel with each other pretty well. Arguably, this
A team of youngsters have achieved what no other team from India has achieved in almost three decades, the Limited-Overs cricket World Cup. Though Cricket is just a game and a world cup victory does not mitigate the sufferings of a million countrymen, the victory has been an achievement par excellence and has given a reason for many to smile and forget their worries for a few minutes. Prospective entrepreneurs have certainly something to take home from the team‟s performance and the success that followed. Let us see if we could learn a few things from the
has been one of the most differentiating factors
world cup tournament.
of this team.
Work as a Team:
Be a smart and cool leader:
This is one of the seemingly clichéd conclu-
This team was not headed by the most prolific
sions that you would get to hear, but the very
performer but by, arguably, the calmest one of
fact that it is repeated a number of times high-
them all. That Mahindra Singh Dhoni had
lights its importance. It is also, unfortunately,
hardly scored substantially in the entire tour-
the least followed advice. This had been the
nament except the finals when the team really
case even in the earlier teams of the BCCI as
needed him tells a lot. Not once was his leader-
individual egos had sometimes eclipsed the
ship questioned by his team-mates. He surely
team‟s cause. Not that this team has a better
showed who the leader was, not by autocracy
team composition than the previous ones, but
but by a firm gentleness. That the person
it certainly has players who believe in others as
praised as the greatest cricketer of this era
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been awful for a major part of the tournament. But the team played to its strengths and they strived to do what was in their ability. Case in point - even lesser known fielders dived on the ball during the finals. Be a sport! (Sachin Tendulkar, in case you did not know!)
Though the team had to shoulder great expec-
himself acknowledged this, proves the point.
tations, they were unrelenting. They had a
That does not mean, as a leader, you have to
cause to play for – help the Master batsman,
make the right decisions always. Dhoni himself
Sachin, achieve the holy grail of his career. This
received a lot of flak for his team selection. But
they did in style. All other things like the pro-
the fact that the team backed him, in spite of
spective carp from the critics seemed a lesser
all this, contributed majorly towards its suc-
threat to them and they managed to reduce
cess.
cricket to what it really is, a sport rather than
Plan properly and work towards the plan:
some religion as sensational media reporters
The teamâ€&#x;s coach, Gary Kirsten when asked
would like to project. This made them a team
about the victory told that this had been
to watch out for and made them graceful win-
planned and executed over the years. That the
ners. The victory celebration by the team was
victory for a tournament lasting a few weeks
one of the most subdued one in recent history
should be planned for years is astonishing. To
and thankfully they did not make the Sri
the teamâ€&#x;s credit it has shown glimpses of its
Lankans look like losers.
quality when it had won tournaments held
Entrepreneurs could learn how to deal with
around the world. The target of becoming the
their opponents from this. It would also be
highest ranked test team was achieved first
great if they learnt how to accept defeat grace-
and then came the second icing on the cake
fully as Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lankan
Understand your weakness
captain, did.
The team had never possessed an enviable set
So let it not just be a cup of joy, let it also be a
of bowlers and added to that the fielding had
cup of learning! Page|5
April Issue
Opinion JUST BELIEVE!
By Gayatri Bose
problems. One of the primary issues might be either funds or perhaps convincing the public
Call it a passing thought but recently as I sat
about your venture. The first is not a very diffi-
writing about great souls such as Steve Jobs of
cult hurdle for there are a lot of different oppor-
Apple Inc and Mark Zuckerburg of Facebook, it
tunities and modes of help available today. The
suddenly occurred to me that it is the passion
second, however, poses a serious question. The
and self belief in oneself that really makes one‟s
simplest way perhaps is to believe in your idea
entrepreneurial journey and the venture truly
yourself first. There are many who have that
great. To think of it, Zuckerburg, or Bill Gates
thought or idea that may change a lot in the
or any of the entrepreneurs like Ms Kiran Ma-
world but unless they themselves believe in the
zumdar Shaw wouldn‟t have been perhaps at
magic, it is inpossible to do so.
the zenith we see them today had they not be-
Recently we celebrated Harry Houdini‟s birth-
lieved in their dream.
day. Had he not believed that he could perform
I am sure that all of us here have a dream, how-
the death trick, it would have been perhaps in-
ever small or big. It is those dreams that have
possible for him to succeed in it and come out
fuelled our growth, our spirits and have led us to
alive from the given circumstances.
hold on to the journey of success. Would you be
To kick start a venture, confidence that the ven-
able to climb a ladder if you thought that it
ture shall do wonders for the entrepreneur as
might break at any moment? I believe that the
well as the world is very important. Else, the
answer is no for then you would be so consumed
question shall forever, remain in ones mind till
with fright that all your energy would be con-
the end, the very question that may one day
sumed in preparing for the big fall. But, for an
spell doom for the venture or the idea itself.
instant if you started to believing in the fact that even if the ladder breaks, it would do so only af-
―Too many people overvalue what they
ter you„ve reached the top, the difference in this
are not and undervalue what they are.‖
tiny thought, is remarkable.
Malcolm S. Forbes
One can not decline that any entrepreneurship venture is never void of any difficulties and Page |6
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Lighter Side
WORKED OUT IN THE WORK PLACE! By Subhashree Srinivasan In this 21st century, at the age of 24, you are definitely aged. You seem to have experienced everything in all aspects. Well, almost everything. Apparently, with this very same superior feeling, I have been
interning
at
an advertisement agency. This is not my first “corporate “experience, still, I don‟t get the hang of it. Previous to this, I worked in an IT company and tried to fit into the best of professional character. Most of the time, food, water and clothing did not matter because of work pressure and late night shifts. I had the usual complaints: less salary, more work and bad bosses. It stayed in my mind to criticize and crib about the work load and company. All this, I did without any remorse. Quite often they asked me to stay back because I was new to the work and had to learn a lot. The sad part was that this was the impression given to me for almost a year. If someone stayed for 16 hours at his cubicle, it meant he was the most
usual RBCs and WBCs. Then, I realized it was
hardworking and should be given better
high time I sought after better “standards” of
grades. Not long before I realized that pro-
living. With many futile attempts with appli-
gramming never seemed to flow in my blood.
cations and examinations, I ended pursuing
Now, I have been corrected; there is nothing
MBA and I am back to square one.
passionate or inherent talent flowing, but the
I must agree that interning at an ad agency is
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April Issue much more „chilled‟ and less stressful: there is
many did not work in two entirely different
a difference between hectic and stressful. I got
industries as I did, the complains did not end.
to know how things worked and what is ex-
It was nothing to do with oneself or the job
pected of me. I am constantly reminded of who
but the sync that prevailed between the two.
is the boss around and I need to give due re-
When the person performed the same task
spect. Here, we are allowed to dress in any at-
over again and again, he sure is bound to get
tire and it dawned to me that miniskirts are
bored and state of restlessness settles in. The
not a thing to be worn only at night. I am a
complaints get uttered and the monotony con-
conservative south Indian and putting the jig-
tinues. This was the same thing with me. I
saw puzzle together, it seemed that this was
could not see any of them as challenging or
what I wanted. I sought for freedom to dress,
problem to solve, rather, I looked at them as a
move around, network, flexible timings and
measure to satisfy someone, the client or the
informal environment. It was never a stressful
boss or the guide. I did not seem to understand
job that boggled my mind every time I was as-
why I am working but was doing everything
signed to it. This was something I enjoyed do-
with no mind of my own.
ing. Being a little sane on the creative end, even
It was my perception that did not satisfy me
executing a task was not tough at all. Every-
and not the work place. To love my job, I have
thing seemed picture perfect.
to change the way I look at a task. And for
Still, in the corner of my mind is a nag; a nag
that, I need to look at it as a challenge. So, I
that says that I am not very happy or satisfied.
was looking at a couple of soap advertisements
There is no elated feeling of accomplishment
and framing taglines. I had to trigger the inter-
that I used to get in my previous work. This
est within me but certain interests are inher-
was monotonous and no permanent friends as
ent. If that‟s the case, why not make them your
some one or the other left the agency every
profession? Is it possible? I am very sure more
two months. There was no joy eating together
than 80% percent would be answering a “no”
smiling artificially or looking at every face that
mentally to this question. Maybe these inter-
was enjoying alcohol in a team party.
ests are not invoked in our jobs but we have a
In despair, I began to wonder if I could ever be
choice to make something out of it. Why not
satisfied with any job. After some thought and
try to bring together what we like and what
little prod around, it dawned to me that it was
you want to do? With the same lines of
not just me but with many others. Though
thought, I wrote this article
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Maconza
Social Venture ATLA’S PARENTS located in a remote area of West Bengal. It is a UK based organization run by NRIs and foreign nationals. Their vision statement reads “We are a group of people with the vision of making lives better for those who have little or no opportunity.”
By Sharmila Bose
The kind of work performed by these benevolent individuals is similar to what is commonly known as adopting a village. They not only provide medical and educational help to the villagers but also try and find new employment opportunities for the villagers.
We live in a world today well acquainted with factories, advanced health care, education and so much more. But have we ever paused for a moment and spared a thought for places in India where the term “Modern Technology” has no meaning for the people living there? There are many such villages where proper health care, education and basic civic amenities hardly exist.
The idea of this venture was inspired by a Hindu sage, Sri Mohananda Bramhachari who had travelled the world extensively with the motive of spreading the message of helping the poor to become self sufficient in all aspects. After his death, one of his disciples, Sri Kalyananda Bramhachari, became the founding member of the Mohananda Bramhachari Charitable Foundation, Haven‟s partners in India who carry out the work on the same ground. This partnership was a pre-requisite in order to comply with government regulations in India and the UK Charities Commission. It is presently managed by its trustees Mr Avishek Dutt, Miss Angela Gamble, Mr Sandeep Ghosh, Mr Sushovan Ghosh, Mrs Susmita Ghosh, Mrs Heather Morgan Moffat and
Though it is the primary responsibility of the government to look after these vital concerns, we often find these areas still being neglected and the people living there are left to fend for themselves. Noticing the plight of these poverty stricken villagers are the watchful eyes of NGOs who take up the essential task of providing basic human rights, which we often take for granted. Help a Village Emerge Now, better known as Haven, has been helping a village
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April Issue Mr Ashok Sharma. As a part of its initiative, Haven adopted a tiny village called Atla in the backward and tribal region of Birbhum district of West Bengal. Since then, there has been no turning back. True to Havenâ€&#x;s name of helping a village emerge new, Atla Village now boasts of solar power, sanitation, purpose built bathing and washing facilities and a continuous supply of fresh drinking water. Its operations mainly include organizing free medical camps, events on various occasions and UK based fund raising. A recent medical camp organized in December 2010 focused on various fields of medical science with special attention being paid to Paediatrics, Gynaecology, Orthopaedic, Cerebral Palsy, Podiatry and Leprosy. In addition, Havenâ€&#x;s community centre provides daily essential healthcare at its primary medical clinic. On the educational front, Haven has a fully equipped learning centre for the local children. From formal education to learning arts and crafts, all possible facilities have been provided for the benefit and development of the children. To the delight of the students, occasional visitors and volunteers also come from the UK to teach various disciplines. Apart from the above, the Haven family is also involved in the organization of various social and cultural events and major festivals such as the annual Durga Puja, to bring about a much needed sense of community spirit among the
local villagers. However, like all forms of social entrepreneurship, funds are vital for the continued functioning and the growth of a cause as noble as this. Thus, donations, charity dinners and barbeques as well as charity auctions have all been helpful in raising funds for the projects that Haven undertakes. This group of British citizens and Indians had come up with a dream and when one counts their achievement in terms of how they have truly transformed a backward village into a place so marvellous, one can only wonder about the magic they have spun. For the villagers, they are no ordinary people, they are angels in disguise who have come to them with the right kind of help they needed to materialize their dreams and fly without wings towards their destinations and a better world. The work done is an eye opener for many in our own country who are sitting on wealth that they could use for such benevolent purposes and help someone realise their dream and believe that it is reality. Page |10
Maconza
Feature
MICRO ENTREPRENEURSHIP By Gayatri Bose
amazes the economists and politicians alike.
Big things start small
Microfinance is a mode of financing and pro-
“Every drop contributes to the vast ocean�- A famous saying that almost every child is taught in school and repeated more frequently than ever. Microfinance fits into the example well. What started as a small measure of poverty alleviation for the masses is now one of the biggest terms in economics and one that
viding special funds to those who do not have access to banking services. It thus ensures that high quality financial services are offered to the poor. These institutions provide almost all financial privileges such as educational loans, health insurance etc. In addition, these institutions have also now increasingly started to help in the entrepreneurial ventures and develop-
A Small Enterprise Foundation Summit in Progress
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April Issue ment. They are increasingly involved in encour-
To enable the funds to flow to rural sectors, a
aging entrepreneurship morale and developing
number of micro finance initiatives were
sustainable Micro entrepreneurship. The term
started by the central government. In 2001, the
micro entrepreneurship is a combination of
Central Bank laid down certain guidelines and
three important terms, viz, sustainability, mi-
policies for these micro financing institutions
crofinance and entrepreneurship. However, the
that had suddenly mushroomed from an un-
term is not a fancy new word coined by the
regulated growth environment.
economists to create excitement among the youth. The term in its true sense refers to a self sustaining venture taken up by the poor and funded by the Micro finance institutions to alleviate poverty and earn livelihood and create a strong future. The extent of their interrelationships is however also, very importantly, dependant on the level of economic development aimed at and pace of the same. Equally interrelated is dependent on the extent to which it addresses the economic development process. Yunus (1994), claims, “If we are looking for one single action which will enable the poor to overcome their poverty, I would go for credit. Money is power.�
In order to encourage the spirit of entrepreneurship, the government initiated the privatization of some its sectors. The Foreign Exchange Decree passed in 1995 which eased the path of investments by permitting individuals or corporate bodies to invest in any Nigerian enterprise or security with foreign currency or capital imported into Nigeria further encouraged entrepreneurship. The results are clear. The government and more particularly the micro finance institutions have succeeded in sowings the seeds of entrepreneurship into the minds of the millions in the nation. The only obstacle that now lies between is the lack of adequate infrastructure. Kenya is another such
Micro financing not only provides the small en-
country where micro financing has worked its
trepreneurs with the required capital to finance
wonders and created the much wanted magic.
their venture but also provide a source of main-
However, what makes the development and
taining funds by providing them with other ser-
encouragement provided in the encouragement
vices such as current accounts and advisory
in this African nation is that the development
services.
has more prominently taken lace in the field of
One of the best examples that are available is
women entrepreneurship.
the West African Nation of Nigeria. For centu-
The seeds of micro financing were sown in the
ries, micro finance institutions were present in
post world war period in the 1950â€&#x;s. The insti-
Nigeria in the form of family and informal units.
tutions catered to the needs of the rural and urPage |12
Maconza ban poor. Many opine that the micro finance
Famous Quotes
institutions in the African continent are not as advanced as the ones in some of the other continents such as Asia. However, despite
Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of
constraints, these institutions have catered
coal that stuck to their jobs.
to the needs of the needy and poor in the
Malcolm S. Forbes
continent and most of whom are women in the rural and urban regions. Nearly 74% of
If you have something to do tomorrow, do it
the poor have benefited from these programs.
today.
The most significant of the group beneficiar-
Benjamin Franklin
ies are the women entrepreneurs especially those involved in the farming activities. These women reported a successful change in their cattle ownership, business expansion as well as the capital. In addition, it was ensured that the micro finance schemes promoted self sustainability as well as longevity.. Micro finance institutions have been a success in promoting entrepreneurship around the world. Though many might state that one of the inherent problems with them is that the rate of interest charged by them is high and unreasonable at times, one can not
It's kind of fun to do the impossible. Walt Disney Let us endeavor to live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry. Mark Twain To action alone hast thou a right and never at all to its fruits; let not the fruits of action be thy motive; neither let there be in thee any attachment to inaction. Bhagavad Gita
deny the fact that in some or the other way, these social entrepreneurship ventures have promoted mainstream entrepreneurship and have helped the poor by providing them with a platform to materialize their dreams and come out from the clutches of a demon christened as poverty.
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Compiled by Manohar S
April Issue
Feature CRY OUT TO THE CROWD
By: Subashree Srinivasan. It is an age old strategy given a new name and a structure enabling us to identify that talent is not a definition with just a single person. It is a concept that has been missed out during the
era named Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay. With crowd sourcing came various forms of appeal from the crowd.
ages and has been an eye opener to many companies that we see today - an open call to the public is what this concept is all about.
It is much different from Commons-based peer pro-
Introduced by Jeff Howe, Crowd sourcing is
termed by Harvard Law School professor Yochai
the concept of outsourcing work and jobs by a
Benkler to describe a new model of economic pro-
company to a crowd or large number of people through an open call. This call helps to gather those who can contribute to perform the most complex tasks, help solve problems and give out
duction
(http://crowdsourcing.typepad.com)
as
duction in which the creative energy of large numbers of people is coordinated into large, meaningful projects mostly without traditional hierarchical organization. The term has become popular with businesses, authors, and journalists as shorthand for the trend of
a new idea or altogether an „out of blue‟ concept.
leveraging the mass collaboration enabled by Web
Crowd sourcing is used when answers are
2.0 technologies to achieve business goals. Crowd-
needed from a pool of talent rather than from
ing sourcing is quite different in the aspect that it is
employed set of people assigned to find a solution. This concept has been embraced by many companies and institutes to understand the
something that doesn’t just start with the employees who outsource their tasks to an undefined crowd but it can start from the crowd itself.
various aspects of target audience and market needs. The definition of crowd sourcing has passed through stages even before it made an appear-
Crowd funding (source: Wikipedia) is a con-
ance. Crowd sourcing was initially mentioned in
cept where large number of people come to-
an entertaining book, „The Wisdom of Crowds‟
gether, collect money and other funds together
by James Surowiecki. However, Suowiecki him-
to support initiatives by other people or organi-
self acknowledges in that book that it was men-
zations. This concept has found various uses
tioned much earlier in another book of Victorian
right from disaster relief to journalism, from a Page |14
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startup which needs funding to any big organization which needs software. Recent incidents, like fund raising for the people of Japan after the tsunami, were through crowd funding. This appeal was done through various personal blogs, social networking sites
new and emerging trend in which, rather than relying on a dedicated team of testers (inhouse or out sourced), companies rely on virtual test teams (created on demand) to get complete test coverage and reduce the time to market their applications.
and websites of various companies. Also,
The company already defines a set of standards
many of wiki leaks happened through crowd
for testing like framing the environment and
sourcing and crowd funding.
scenario for testing. A vendor identifies a tal-
Crowd testing (source: itmagz.com) is a
ented bunch of testers from a common pool
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April Issue that meets the requirements, explains the pro-
in the fact that many costs related to the test-
ject and assigns individual work. The testers
ing are reduced.
begin their testing of the codes and application and report various bugs and inconsistency in the programming. The testers are provided various tools that are faster and more powerful to benefit the company that has employed them. After the vendor is satisfied with the entire procedure of testing, the tester is paid the
Crowd sourcing when used properly can help in generating new ideas, cut costs and create an advance product and experience for the customers. On the other hand, it could also be a bad idea because you are not sure “who” or “what” makes your crowd. Proper and careful
amount as obliged.
evaluation of the idea and implementation is
The basic advantage of the crowd testing lies
your cost and reputation as well.
necessary because mistakes can take a toll on
Application of the concept: Online crowd souring used by ITC foods in 2009: (source: citeman.com) While launching Bingo, the snacks brand which has given the market leader Frito-Lay a run for its money, the company used ideas from the crowd to start a campaign. Bingo’s hugely successful launch campaign was one of the reasons that this 8 year old division of the conglomerate made millions. Ogilvy & Mather (O&M), the agency which handled the communications for Bingo, says the focus was to position the brand as youth-centric. What works in snacks is novelty and variety. So, from the beginning, Bingo focused on variety to sustain consumer interest in the brand. The variety came through irreverent and fun campaigns — consumers were asked to design the ads for Bingo using the angular shape of the chips as the central theme. Marketers call this ―crowd sourcing‖, which serves two purposes – it engages the end-consumer and the campaign. The importance of Bingo is evident from the fact that potato-based snacks are the largest product segment (85 per cent share) in the Indian snacks market, followed by snack nuts, chickpeas and other pulse-based savory snacks.
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COMPANIES THAT EMBRACED CROWD SOURCING (Source : http://futureofcrowdsourcingsummit.com) 1) Unilever, the second largest advertiser on the planet, used crowd sourcing design website Idea Bounty to get an idea for their TV advertising campaign. They have also used MoFilm to generate short films for several brands, getting over 10,000 contributions. 2) Starbucks crowd sources suggestions and ideas for improvements via dedicated website My Starbucks Ideas. At the time of writing there were over 23,000 suggestions about coffee and espresso drinks alone! 3)The GeneralElectric (GE) Ecoimagination project describes itself as a place ―where businesses, entrepreneurs, innovators and students share their best ideas on how to build the nextgeneration power grid – and just might get funded.‖ up with several venture capital funds, innovators submit ideas to the website around themes of renewable energy, grid efficiency and ecobuildings GE and their partners have pledged up to $200m to invest in the most promising startups, with the winner to be announced late 2010. 4) Proctor & Gamble have a programme called ―Connect & Develop‖ which aims to source product and service innovations from outside the firm. They say ―in the areas in which we do business, there are millions of scientists, engineers and other companies globally. Why not collaborate with them?‖ Ideas are submitted via a secure portal. 5) Amazon was one of the first major corporate to operate a crowd sourcing model with the launch of Mechanical Turk in 2005. It operates as a marketplace for workers to complete ―Human Intelligence Tasks‖ – essentially tasks which can’t be done by computers, such as extracting information from web pages.
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April Issue
Opinion CHASE AND HUNT
By: Kunaall Jumani There is a saying that has become popular over the years. “If you are born poor it‟s not your fault, but if you die poor it‟s the greatest ever sin.” The saying has its indication to the richness of wisdom and venturing into the true cause of an individual. Every human being has the capability of shining in some field or the other. Everyone is bestowed with a talent different from others unique in its own way. The catch is figuring out the talent in time to exploit it completely. As the saying goes, it is not practically possible to get rich in your talent at birth itself. It is built over the years. It keeps growing within us until we try to find out what it is. Try new things, experiment with everything possible, take chances, risk every move and put interest into learning from every walk of life. The one element that gives you utmost satisfaction, interest in accomplishing and and gives you an „on top of the world‟ feeling is your talent, your forte and your special purpose for existence. If someone is very artistic and is good at painting there will be hints in her life in the form of admiration for out of the box creations, an imaginary persona, soft spoken and a modest approach. There will be a craving for using a pencil to draw crazy things in childhood and gradually she would want to play with cray-
ons, colour pencils and paints on her magical weapon – the canvas. If someone has the talent of an entrepreneur, then things that can be noticed are the person will try to stand on his own feet as a child and would also try doing risky and mischievous things. He would have a craving for learning business and its tricks during his education days. From a young age he would also try to gain practical insights of theoretical concepts. This person would always look for faster ways to solve a problem and would be good at making others around him work. Every talent is unique in its own way, has its own importance and is also special with the way it is brought out to good use by the individual. Directing the talent through the right channel is of utmost importance. Even a slight misuse of the talent can lead the person into a problem. The person will face the deserved consequence if the talent is wrongly used but when rightly used the talent is bound to make the person shine and stand out of the crowd as unique, special and different from the masses. There are instances of people who have left corporate high profile jobs to start an NGO to serve the downtrodden. These people sold their own companies that have spread its wings across the nation to open stores in their Page |18
Maconza
towns of birth and also people who have achieved major success after dropping out of their houses of knowledge to follow their dreams. Till you try you won‟t know your calling. Till you play the game you won‟t know how much you would enjoy it. Till you experiment and fail while experimenting you won‟t know whether you would want to try again or experiment with something else. Leave your inhibitions, tear apart the shackles of pessimism, turn to Mr. Optimism and look at the ocean of opportunities that come your way. The thirst should never go away, the hunt should never stop, the exploitation should be 100% and the fruits should be reaped completely to leave no scope of complaint on the abundance you get when you set foot as a human being. We are the most complicated and privileged creation of God. Complicated because each one of us is different and we don‟t
know how we are different till we reach a certain understanding. Privileged because each one of us is different not just from each other but from His other creations too. We are bestowed with so many powers that no other creation has nor can dream of having. The moment you get to know of your talent make sure the world recognizes it. Put in your full energy to use and make that talent so strong that it is given the worth for being given to you. Make full use of that talent to grow and see the amount of respect you will earn not only from the world but from yourself too. You will be the happiest, most peaceful and a completely satisfied individual when you use your talent because it is what you are, what you love the most and what gives your life its meaning and your purpose for existence. Page|19
April Issue
Successful Entrepreneurs THE THREE SMART MEN
By Gayatri Bose Innovation and technology has gripped the young world. Maconza salutes three of the many entrepreneurs who may claim pride in this. Entrepreneurship has changed the face of the world. Since time immemorial, it has been innovations galore and entrepreneurs creating a new world with them. It is said that the young find it easier to pick up change and adapt to it. Their inexperience often helps them learn faster than a elder person. The same rule holds true when it comes to technology. The youth adopt changes and innovations in technology faster and it is always time before they are comfortable and hooked on to the new gadget or innovation. A simple example would be a cell phone. Call it fad or fashion (FoF), but the young generation gets addicted to the newness as easily as they get comfortable to it. This article salutes the three innovators, the creators of the newest FoF: Mike Lazaridis, CEO and CoPresident, Research in Motion: the company that manufactures the marvelous Blackberry, Mark Zuckerburg: Co-Founder, Facebook. Com and Micheal Dell, Founder, Chairman, Dell computers. Mike Lazaridis: Research in Motion Smart phones such as blackberry have smitten
the market. Apart from being extremely important devices for all those who are working, it is now also the newest fad. Many would question as why it is called a fad? Simply put, the Blackberry with its upgraded models is, despite its innovative features, another technological advancement. From history, it has been well learnt that anything to do with technology always runs the risk of being overthrown by a smarter and more compact cousin or even worse, an innovation so far superior that it is almost alien to the aging technology. Mike Lazaridis was student at the University of Waterloo when he established his own startup, Research in Motion, the company that today churns out from its factories, the Blackberry. Born in Istanbul to Poltik parents in 1961, Lazaridis had shown traits of a genius form the Page |20
Maconza very beginning. At the age of 12, he was awarded by the Windsor Public Library for having read every science book in the library. An achievement and task, few kids can match up to. In 1979, he enrolled himself at the University of Waterloo only to drop out two months before the course ended. He established Research in Motion in 1984 along with Mike Barnstijn and Douglous Fregin with capital help from his parents, government grant and a contract with General Motors to develop a computer control display system. Development of barcode technology for films was their first success at RIM. Lazrdis today, is the co-CEO and President of RIM which is head quartered in Waterloo. RIM launched the Blackberry in 1999. Lazaridis was sure that sooner or later, customers would feel the need for a smart hand held device that had the potential to become a standard for industry communication. To quote, Lazaridis says, "I don‟t think I could ever stop tinkering with the BlackBerry."
Global Mail Newspaper in 2002. Mark Zuckerburg: Facebook More than a decade ago, social networking was neither a hit, nor a madness. But very soon, there was an Orkut, a Hi5 and few other such sites. It was all until facebook sprang up online and there has been no looking back since. Twitter, social networking site which is not so similar to any of its predecessors is the one the biggest competitors of facebook and yet Facebook‟s popularity remains unparalleled. From kids, to movie stars to oldies, almost everyone seems to have a Facebook profile today to the extent that there is now a new verb ‟facebook‟. Holding the strings to all of it is the genius Mark Zuckerburg.
He is also involved in a lot of philanthropic work. His work is another of those things that makes him one among the likes of Bill Gates. He founded the Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics in 2000. In addition, he continually donates to the University of Waterloo and the Institute of Quantum Computing. His work, philanthropy and his quest for excellence and beyond partnered with his revolutionizing innovation won him the accolade of being named Canada‟s Nation Builder by the
Born on May 14, 1984, Zuckerburg showed traces of a genius from a very young age. At the age of 12, he had excelled in the art, literature,
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April Issue languages and history. While still at middle school, he had started writing software and hired software developer David Newman as his tutor. The first glimpse of his mastermind was seen when he developed a music player known as the Synapse Media player which used artificial intelligence to learn about the listener‟s taste of music. In 2002, he enrolled at Harvard. While at Harvard, he wrote various programs like Course Match (which would help students analyze and choose their subjects on the basis if the selection of other students and also form study groups) and Facebook. Facebook initially went up on the Harvard server as a „fun‟ site. What started as a „Harvard thing‟ the site was all over the world as Zuckerburg spread it to the networks of other Ivy League Schools such as Yale, Dartmouth, Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, Brown and New York University. However, Zuckerburg‟s journey hasn‟t been smooth in totality. In 2004, Harvard Students Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra filed a suit against Zuckerburg alleging that he has stolen their idea and making them believe that he would build a site called Harvardconnect.com (which now exists as Connect U). The case was settled in 2008 as Facebook agreed to pay $1.4 million. In 2010, Facebook was sued by the Pakistani Deputy Attorney General, Muhammad Azhar Siddiqui after an application contest called „Draw Muhammad” was developed by Facebook. The site was blocked in Pakistan until
the contest was removed from the site. Facebook is also blocked in the People‟s Republic of China. He has also joined the league of the philanthropist entrepreneurs which includes the likes of Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. He signed the „Giving Pledge‟ with them in 2010 and started the start-up „Education Foundation;. There are many who criticize Facebook, but it is certainly true that Facebook has brought the world under one roof and brought us closer than we ever knew. Michael Dell: founder and Chairman, Dell Inc. "It's through curiosity and looking at opportunities in new ways that we've always mapped our path at Dell. There's always an opportunity to make a difference."
Michael Dell This philosophy is true even for the life that Michael Dell, CEO and Chairman, Dell Inc, has lead. It is true that an entrepreneurs calling is what leads him to his goal. To enter business early, he applied for the High School Equivalence exam at age 8 and was interested in investing his money from his various jobs into the stock market at the early age of 12. At age 15, when he was gifted his first computer, an Apple II, he disassembled it just to see how t worked. As Dell grew and joined medical college, he realized that a direct marketing initiative or venture for computers was missing and that in all purchases, middle men were present. Page |22
Maconza have made Dell and his firm a prime example of quality management along with Toyota and Motorola. At 24, he was awarded the title of „Entrepreneur of the year‟ by Inc magazine and the „Top CEO in American Industry‟ by Worth Magazine. Dell hasn‟t forgotten society in all the hustle. As a philanthropist, he established the Micheal and Susan Dell foundation which focuses in children‟s needs. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Limerick for his donation towards a local community in Ireland and for his initiatives to support education. He thus, began selling computers to his friends and colleagues. Word soon spread and PC Limited was established. With increasing popularity, Dell dropped out of medical school and renamed the venture to Dell Computers Corporation. Though, initially, the orders were slow, Dell never lost trust in his venture and idea. It was this trust that kept the company going and soon hit the $1bilion mark. At age 27. Dell was the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company. With business‟ in more than 34 companies, in 2001, Dell surpassed Compaq as the world‟s largest PC manufacturer with a market share of more than 13%. Perhaps, Dell would not have been so successful had it not been the values that are followed at Dell. The superior manufacturing and quality perfect processes coupled with timeliness
It is not what these great technopreneurs or entrepreneurs have done that makes us remember them most. It is their conviction and belief in their dreams that has helped them reach the zenith we see them at, today. If these people were not convinced about their dream, it was impossible for them to convince another. Entrepreneurship is not just about doing something differently, but also believing in the magic and the change that can be and the help to the world. Another learning from their lives would be that once a dream is achieved, one must not ignore the society, the same on whose resources we have fed on. these entrepreneurs, these three wise men are not just Technopreneurs, they are also social entrepreneurs who have done their bit to help the society and make this world a better place to live in.
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April Issue
Successful Entrepreneurs STEVE JOBS-A PHENOMENON
By Manohar S
Ask any Techno-freak his list of dream gadgets and the odds are high that the list would be populated by products from Apple. Apple has reached to such an extent that these new age Geeks would consider it a sin akin to homicide not to know about Apple! No wonder many people may at least find it better to pretend as though they aspire for Apple products, when in reality they may not even know its functionality! So who was (and is) behind this revolution called the “Apple Revolution” which has managed to dominate B-School case study discussions? (Dear Techno freaks this question is not for you!) The person attributed to this revolution was born in February 24, 1955 to an unmarried couple and was later adopted by a lower middle class family and was named Steven Paul
interested in the Hippie culture than in collegiate education. But some realization either powered by a strong feeling of materialism or his lady love made him pursue entrepreneurship. Whatever the motive, prospective entrepreneurs have some valuable lessons to learn from his life which we would try to trace.
(Steve) Jobs.
Lesson 1: Identify your interests and gain
Even before adoption Steve‟s adopted parents
knowledge on the same:
had to assure his Biological mother that he
When Steve Jobs‟ family shifted to what is
would be sent to college the only silver lining
now called as Silicon Valley, he was vey much
in Steve‟s life thus far. But still he was more
engrossed with all the electronics that occu-
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Maconza pied his neighbor‟s garage. He did what was required to make his interests really matter. He enrolled himself in an electronics class during his high school and learnt quite a lot about it. He was so much into the world of electronics that he even once called up Bill Hewlett himself who was the co-founder of HP Corporation to get some spare parts for his summer project! This gives a glimpse into the personal-
Apple Logo—over the years..
ity of this entrepreneur who had managed to cash in on his interest in a massive way. Lesson 2: Earn association with the right people and Lesson 3: Learn to influence them!
Woz then landed a job in HP and aimed to work there “all his life”. He built a computer Altair which was a great improvement from the existing computer. Jobs was the one who proposed that they start their own company
Steve Jobs befriended a person by the name of
after (fortunately!) HP was uninterested in
Stephen Wozniak (also fondly called as Woz, the
Woz‟s „box of plastic‟. They named their com-
co-founder of Apple) who was five years elder
pany, Apple (maybe influenced by Sir Isaac
to him but shared the same passion for elec-
Newton). They aimed to sell their Apple I to
tronics. He was reportedly, much more knowl-
hobbyists and software enthusiasts. This was
edgeable than Jobs in the field of electronics.
the start of the company that was incorpo-
Woz was already building a computer which
rated in April 1, 1976. Jobs managed to influ-
Jobs proposed to commercialize. They built an
ence Woz to resign his “dream job” and they
illegal phone hacking device which they called
then designed Apple II after their decent first
a “blue boxes” and Steve was the one who com-
venture. This time though they took the help
mercialized it. But they had to stop this
of an investor by the name Mike Markkula, a
“exciting” (!) venture after almost landing up
former Intel employee, understandably having
with the cops.
ample experience in electronics.
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April Issue The series of incidents stated above one of which was even unethical shows the symbiotic nature of the relationship between Woz and Jobs. It is clear that Woz was the technological brain and Jobs the financial brain in Apple, both of which were needed. His ability to find the right people was even demonstrated at the later stages of the company, when he roped in John Sculley, former CEO of PepsiCo (that their relationship soured later was a different issue!). Jobs once even resigned from Apple and started his own
Jobs was a part of many failures like Lisa, Mac-
venture by the name NeXT. It was Jobsâ€&#x; ability
intosh (which was only partly successful)
to attract people (employees and investors
which were one of the many reasons for his
alike) that became useful when he started this
exit from Apple. But his ability to learn from
risky venture.
his failures made him a force to reckon with
Lesson 4: Learn from your mistakes and
and contributed to his success in NeXT and
make improvements:
Pixar Animations (Jobsâ€&#x; animation company
One thing that Jobs realized from the sales pattern of Apple I was that in order to expand,
that worked on Disneyâ€&#x;s famous creations like Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Monsters inc. etc.)
he needed to look beyond hobbyists and en-
Lesson 5: Believe in you and your product
thusiasts. He realized that they should capture
and Lesson 6: Market appropriately:
the mass market for which he improved the
Steve Jobs comes across as a personality who
looks of the computer which contributed sig-
firmly (and even arrogantly!) believed in him-
nificantly to the success of Apple II. Moreover
self. This is evident with the way he faced fail-
Apple I was sold by one bearded Jobs and
ures from Lisa and Macintosh and still re-
Woz making it a Hippie product. Apple II was
mained unperturbed. He went ahead with his
displayed in an exhibition and was sold in a
plans to make his products a mass market one
much more suave way. Page |26
Maconza even when the former CEO of Apple, John Sculley denounced the plan as a “lunatic one” saying that “High-tech could not be designed and sold as a consumer product. How wrong can you be!” But Jobs went ahead with the plan and made Apple what it is now. Jobs concentration on Marketing also stands out. He did something very few entrepreneurs had done before. He created a brand called Steve Jobs! He made people associate him with Apple and he was a regular in magazines like Time, Forbes and the like. The name Jobs earned for him helped him to attract investors even after he was ousted from Apple. This could be demonstrated by the fact that the estranged Steve Jobs‟ firm NeXT was evaluated at $125 Million when it had not come out with a single product back then! The brand value of Steve is news to none now. In fact he is growing bigger and bigger from the day he introduced iPod to the day he has introduced iPad.
when everybody was satisfied with personal computing, his purchase of an animation company and his firm‟s raging hits like iPhone, iPod and iPad indicate a great ability of his, the ability to foresee trends and needs and to cater to them accordingly. Maybe this is one factor that makes Steve Jobs what he is. But there are also certain attributes of Steve that a prospective entrepreneur is better of without. One is his alleged high handedness, his erratic behaviors and maybe it would help an entrepreneur to lead a stable personal life
Lesson 7: Anticipate, if possible even create,
unlike Jobs‟. It is definitely true that Jobs suc-
trends than simply following them:
ceeded in spite of all these pitfalls.
Jobs focus on Graphic User Interface (GUI),
But then, all of us are not STEVEN PAUL
his thoughts on interpersonal computing
JOBS! Page|27
April Issue
Successful Entrepreneurs SACHDEV IN HIS SU-KAM WAY
By Aveena Ghosh
Have you felt frustrated when there is a sudden power cut in between your favorite programme or a cricket match?? Or when your busy studying for an important test. Everyone is grateful to the inverters and generators which have lit up thousands and thousands of homes and saved us from facing power shortage. Among the many in the inverter industry one such game changer emerged to set new benchmarks in this industry and to generate 430 crore rupees annual turn over from virtually nothing (not even a formal education in management and technical expertise). This entrepreneur is none other than Kunwer Sachdev, the brain behind Su-kam company ,the largest manufacturer of invertors in India. He, with his “can do” attitude, went on to launch Su –kam in 1998 which lit up millions of homes in the country during incessant power shortages. Son of a section officer in Indian Railways he always had an entrepreneur hidden within him. He was a person, one among us, who had his own share of problems and failures but with a very determined heart, he went on to pave his way to success. He first tried to join his brother in the business of selling pens but then they soon couldn‟t carry on further and next he joined as a sales
executive in a cable company which was again proportionately short-lived. He then started a business in manufacturing cable equipment but it didn‟t work out because of lack of technical skills. It was an attempt to improvise a locally purchased inverter which could never mitigate the long and consistent power cuts at his home that made him change his focus to gain new heights. Failing to convince banks about the commercial viability of the venture, he went full swing into the production of inverters using his personal savings. The initial response would have turned most people off- the first 100 pieces were returned by buyers because of glitches. He hired engineers with proven experience in technological innovation, even though he was running dangerously low on funds. The gamble paid off, big time. Today Su-Kam has four state-of-the-art production facilities, including a Rs 100-crore plant at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh which produces 5,000 batter-
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Maconza
ies a day. Su-Kam is now a leading player in the inverter space which boasts of a 20 per cent equity stake from Reliance India Power Fund, a private equity fund sponsored jointly by the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and the Singapore-based Temasek Holdings. Sachdevâ€&#x;s success story doesnâ€&#x;t end here. Having made its presence felt in over 50 countries through product innovation, design sensibility and sales distribution network, Su-Kam Power Systems Limited has a Rs 250-crore expansion plan during the next fiscal year. He may drive a Toyota Corolla, but for Sachdev, wealth creation lies not just in the coffers he likes to fill but in the energy of his team which he drives with equal passion. He is a true entrepreneur who motivates the people around him. Sachdev gives people the chance to spread their wings, explore and to finally tune and hone themselves in their own field of expertise. He strongly feels that an organization without proper workforce will fall similar to a building without a proper foundation. Page|29
The writers’ views in the articles have been influenced by various writers and other sources. Thus, readers are expected to cross check the facts before relying upon them. Much care has been taken to present the facts without any error. Still if any error creeps in, appropriate feedback would always be welcome.
For internal circulation only