That’s the refrain we heard last week, when my colleague Charles Assisi and I led a conversation with two of India’s leading entrepreneurs, Harsh Mariwala and Kishore Biyani. India clearly needs more first-time entrepreneurs. And they need advice on how to grow. Drawing from their experience, Mariwala and Biyani have chosen contrasting approaches to create a support network for such entrepreneurs. In 2007, Biyani floated Future Ventures, his market-based model to invest behind smart firms from the retail and consumer universe and help them grow. So far, there are 15 firms—and more are likely to follow.
On August 15 this year, Mariwala announced the launch of Ascent (which stands for, Accelerating the Scaling up of Enterprises), where he spends money out of his own pocket to help a community of high performance entrepreneurs scale-up. Already, 100 entrepreneurs have been through the mentoring sessions. The application process for the next batch of 100 entrepreneurs has now opened, with the second session scheduled to kick off in January 2013 (check www.ascentfoundation.in for details). Our conversation with the two stalwarts was very insightful, and you’ll soon be able to read about it in our forthcoming special issue on the 100 Richest Indians, which hits the stands on November 2.
On a related note, from the time we launched in May 2009, we’ve tried to do our bit to serve entrepreneurs by curating the best stories about how high performers scale up their organisations. The Forbes India Leadership Awards has become a special occasion for us to recognise the best-of-breed leaders. We’re now getting ready for a new initiative.
From November 29 to December 2, Forbes India is throwing its weight behind the Isha Foundation’s unique leadership development program aimed at high-performance entrepreneurs. Called Insight: The DNA of Success, the program will be led by Dr Ram Charan, considered the foremost CEO coach in the world, and spiritual guru Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. Between the two of them, they will cover business and individual leadership challenges involved in scaling up an enterprise. (You can listen to the both of them explain the essence of the program)
There will be plenty of help at hand. A clutch of distinguished Indian business leaders—KV Kamath, GM Rao, Deepak Satwalekar, Ravi Venkatesan, Sangita Reddy, Shankar Annaswamy, Naveen Kshatriya, Prahalad Kakkar, Pramod Chaudhuri, Vellayan Subbiah, Dilip Cherian, Apurv Bagri and Shekhar Kapur—will share their experiences as key resource leaders for the entire duration of the conference. As knowledge partners, I will represent Forbes India and lead a conversation between Dr Ram Charan and Sadhguru.
Our readers can participate in these conversations. Dr Ram Charan will speak to my colleagues Charles Assisi and Shishir Prasad on October 24, followed by a live webcast of our conversation with Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev on November 1 at 12 noon. If you have any burning issues that you’d like these two stalwarts to address, you could mail us your questions to letterstoforbesindia@network18online.com (email address corrected). We’ll present the most compelling questions to the both of them to answer. I look forward to what promises to be a stimulating session.
Respected Dr. Ram Charan:
Namaskaram!
It will be our pleasure to meet you at the upcoming event “ Insight “ at Isha scheduled from Non 29th to Dec 2nd 2012. My question at the said program to you will be:
1. What is the difference among 1) Corporate governance 2) Ethics and 3) Fiduciary responsibility, the infamously ubiquitous words in use at corporates all over the world. How do we consider them? Are these aspects related to subjective principles or universal values?
Your response to this query will be gratifying in our minds on the above aspects and their subtlety. Inter-related question to this query in interest on a real case scenario for discussion will be presented at the Insight event
Respected Dr. Ram Charan:
Namaskaram!
It will be our pleasure to meet you at the upcoming event “ Insight “ at Isha scheduled from Non 29th to Dec 2nd 2012. My question at the said program to you will be:
1. What is the difference among 1) Corporate governance 2) Ethics and 3) Fiduciary responsibility, the infamously ubiquitous words in use at corporates all over the world. How do we consider them? Are these aspects related to subjective principles or universal values?
Your response to this query will be gratifying in our minds on the above aspects and their subtlety. Inter-related question to this query in interest on a real case scenario for discussion will be presented at the Insight event.
Regards
Bhaskar Chalasani
Ishaite
—
Cleverne
It is a fantastic and much needed programs for entrepreneurs. Two gems Ram Charan (most influential management guru alive) and Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev (Three life time englightened Guru) are conducting it , such an experiment is unheard of from ancient times. Both Gurus have one commong thing that is on the move to enlighten the world in there respective domain round the clock with high intensity, high speed and full dedication. Kudos to Forbes India for doing such great job indian industry.
The email address above to pose questions does not work. I got a mail undeliverable notice. Please post correct address. Thanks!
Delivery has failed to these recipients or distribution lists:
letterstoforbes@network18online.com
The recipient's e-mail address was not found in the recipient's e-mail system. Microsoft Exchange will not try to redeliver this message for you. Please check the e-mail address and try resending this message, or provide the following diagnostic text to your system administrator.
Thank you for pointing out the error in the email address. It has been corrected in the post now. It should have been letterstoforbesindia@network18online.com
Its great to see that efforts are being made to encourage entrepreneurship in India. We all know that India is one of the worst places in the world to start a business. Organized efforts like these may not be enough for a country with a population of over a billion - but they are a good start. India needs local start up ecosystems in every town and city. This is not going to happen overnight and will need support from all quarters of society. It is heartening to see the involvement of spiritual leaders in this. By organizing an event like INSIGHT, Isha Foundation is sending out a very healthy signal that spirituality is not about renouncing your duties, but rather doing them with more involvement and ,more importantly, keeping in touch with your humanity.
India, and the world needs leaders who are balanced, stable, inclusive and conscious. The program you are supporting sounds like the perfect balance of bringing expertise in business and personal/inner-managment. As an entrepreneur and a spiritual seeker, I have discovered that there is much overlap in these areas. They both require the same intensity and focus, the same commitment to one's purpose, and are both accelerated by the guidance of masters in the field. I am delighted to see the two worlds combined in this program, with true masters like Ram Charan and Sadhguru from the field offering their mentorship. It sets one up to achieve a success that enhances not only the bottom line, but also the lives of all those touched by one's enterprise. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks for providing solutions...as opposed to non stop commentary from people about problems and what wont work and their choice of whos good and whos not.
Its very exciting to see a spiritual leader's role in this whole thing as
the spiritual process is what builds the fundamentals within a human being and makes him/her capable of creating or leading anything that is of value to humanity.
Beyond race and religion and this has been the essence of this civilisation. Thanks for the article :)
There's no arguing that India needs to generate a million entrepreneurs per year.
Clearly, the IT service providers (Infosy, TCS, Wipro and their brethren) are not going to be able to absorb the millions graduating from India's colleges.
And the government probably doesn't have the resources to simply pay 50 million people to raise them out of poverty through the employment guarantee scheme.
But what's with involving charlatan godmen in all this? I think Messers, Ramdev, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Jaggi Vasudev, Deepak Chopra and brethren are the most useless of members of humanity.
Or may be they are 'superb' specimens of 'entrepreneurs' themselves since they are so successful at parting people from their money.
That's after all the ultimate aim of any and every entrepreneur, isn't it?
Dear Mr Mohanty, The names you have mentioned have all done the work of awakening the people. Without these people the real charltans would have already made us robots by now. Average Indian is still an aware being and able to fight against the thugs who are ruling because of the values given to us from ancient times that every individual is fully capable within himself and can achieve whatever he desires with focussed mind. It is this fundamental principle that give us strength to fight the corrupt and criminal. Ramdev is responsible for bringing corruption issue on fore frunt and also bringing yoga in daily life of aam adami. Sri sri ravishankar has made mass awakening brought subtler dimension of yoga in fore front, other then this he was responsible for cleaning Yamuna during common wealth game when Sheila Dixit govt raised their hands. Sadhguru Jaggi vasudev is 24 hours on the move just to awaken the elites and powerfull both businessmen and politicians around the globe, other than this his movements has already planted more than 14million trees in Tamilnadu, on single day they have planted 8 lakh trees which is ginny's book of world record. Deepak chopra is more than 75 years old and is non stopped warrior and true icon in USA, making people alive there. Please do reasearch and do read on various platforms before commenting in such foul language for these highly esteemed and humanity caring accomplished individuals.
Hello Sachi, interesting comment you make here. I've been living more or less in India for the past 12 years and I'm always amazed by how dismissive a lot of Indians are of their uniquely rich culture and spiritual ethos. Yes, many charlatans have existed and still exist, across all areas, including political platforms and businesses. Yes, when business enters spirituality, it could become corrupt, if the fundamentals are tainted with an unhealthy kind of greed. But when spirituality enters business, then you can see human beings stand up as motivated, inspiring, inclusive leaders with integrity beyond reproach. After all, a true leader is one who supports everyone around him to reach their full potential. And how could one ever reach his full potential without being rooted in the most essential, human quality, which is spirituality.
Marie Christine, your comment is spot on. The self loathing and distrust for the public figures have reached almost repulsive levels in India. There is absolute distrust about anyone who has achieved anything in our country. This does have some merit, but the thing I abhor about this behavior is that almost all those who do this complaining have done nothing for the society themselves. But they somehow raise themselves up to a moral high ground and blatantly attack the achievers without even checking the facts. The organizations that have inspired mass human awakening and have done services like planted 14 million trees in this country can hardy be termed as useless. But I wonder what this critic's contribution to the society is that he thinks he can be so rude.
Dear Indrajit Guptaji, Kudos to you on an incisive and insightful article and to Harsh Mariwala and Kishore Biyani for investing their time and resources for catering to a much needed niche and creating more Mariwalas and Biyanis for the growth of the Indian Economy!
Marie Christine, your comment is spot on. The self loathing and distrust for the public figures have reached almost repulsive levels in India. There is absolute distrust about anyone who has achieved anything in our country. This does have some merit, but the thing I abhor about this behavior is tha...
Hello Sachi, interesting comment you make here. I've been living more or less in India for the past 12 years and I'm always amazed by how dismissive a lot of Indians are of their uniquely rich culture and spiritual ethos. Yes, many charlatans have existed and still exist, across all areas, including...
Respected Dr. Ram Charan:
Namaskaram!
It will be our pleasure to meet you at the upcoming event “ Insight “ at Isha scheduled from Non 29th to Dec 2nd 2012. My question at the said program to you will be:
1. What is the difference among 1) Corporate governance 2) Ethics a...
Respected Dr. Ram Charan:
Namaskaram!
It will be our pleasure to meet you at the upcoming event “ Insight “ at Isha scheduled from Non 29th to Dec 2nd 2012. My question at the said program to you will be:
1. What is the difference among 1) Corporate governance 2) Ethics a...
It is a fantastic and much needed programs for entrepreneurs. Two gems Ram Charan (most influential management guru alive) and Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev (Three life time englightened Guru) are conducting it , such an experiment is unheard of from ancient times. Both Gurus have one commong thing that is...
Marie Christine, your comment is spot on. The self loathing and distrust for the public figures have reached almost repulsive levels in India. There is absolute distrust about anyone who has achieved anything in our country. This does have some merit, but the thing I abhor about this behavior is that almost all those who do this complaining have done nothing for the society themselves. But they somehow raise themselves up to a moral high ground and blatantly attack the achievers without even checking the facts. The organizations that have inspired mass human awakening and have done services like planted 14 million trees in this country can hardy be termed as useless. But I wonder what this critic's contribution to the society is that he thinks he can be so rude.
Hello Sachi, interesting comment you make here. I've been living more or less in India for the past 12 years and I'm always amazed by how dismissive a lot of Indians are of their uniquely rich culture and spiritual ethos. Yes, many charlatans have existed and still exist, across all areas, including political platforms and businesses. Yes, when business enters spirituality, it could become corrupt, if the fundamentals are tainted with an unhealthy kind of greed. But when spirituality enters business, then you can see human beings stand up as motivated, inspiring, inclusive leaders with integrity beyond reproach. After all, a true leader is one who supports everyone around him to reach their full potential. And how could one ever reach his full potential without being rooted in the most essential, human quality, which is spirituality.
Respected Dr. Ram Charan:
Namaskaram!
It will be our pleasure to meet you at the upcoming event “ Insight “ at Isha scheduled from Non 29th to Dec 2nd 2012. My question at the said program to you will be:
1. What is the difference among 1) Corporate governance 2) Ethics and 3) Fiduciary responsibility, the infamously ubiquitous words in use at corporates all over the world. How do we consider them? Are these aspects related to subjective principles or universal values?
Your response to this query will be gratifying in our minds on the above aspects and their subtlety. Inter-related question to this query in interest on a real case scenario for discussion will be presented at the Insight event
Respected Dr. Ram Charan:
Namaskaram!
It will be our pleasure to meet you at the upcoming event “ Insight “ at Isha scheduled from Non 29th to Dec 2nd 2012. My question at the said program to you will be:
1. What is the difference among 1) Corporate governance 2) Ethics and 3) Fiduciary responsibility, the infamously ubiquitous words in use at corporates all over the world. How do we consider them? Are these aspects related to subjective principles or universal values?
Your response to this query will be gratifying in our minds on the above aspects and their subtlety. Inter-related question to this query in interest on a real case scenario for discussion will be presented at the Insight event.
Regards
Bhaskar Chalasani
Ishaite
—
Cleverne
It is a fantastic and much needed programs for entrepreneurs. Two gems Ram Charan (most influential management guru alive) and Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev (Three life time englightened Guru) are conducting it , such an experiment is unheard of from ancient times. Both Gurus have one commong thing that is on the move to enlighten the world in there respective domain round the clock with high intensity, high speed and full dedication. Kudos to Forbes India for doing such great job indian industry.
