Find the Right Job(s) in the Niche Mobile VAS Industry at VASJobs(dot)com

, , , , , , , , , ,

1

Nov
20

In the ever cluttered Online Jobs portal domain, much of the niche domain jobs go un-noticed, which is what Sidhartha Bezbora, Founder, VASJobs.com says when I asked him the reason and the concept behind VASJobs.

A seasoned telecom professional, Sidhartha has been a key figure in the Indian Mobile VAS space and has over a decade of experience in the Telecom industry, globally.

VASJobs started as a portal, aimed at creating the right value for the Mobile VAS industry which is niche and hence demands top class talent, which becomes a time consuming activity in itself. VASJobs fills this need-gap in the market, Says Sidhartha.

With the VAS industry growing and the decreasing ARPU’s, innovation is bound to increase and there will be an ever expanding need for professionals who move with the times and own a good understanding of the domain. This is what we aim at leveraging through VASJobs.com, said Sidhartha, while on phone from Assam.

Commenting upon the existing platform, Sidhartha showed, some of the most noted names in the Indian Mobile VAS domain to be listing jobs on the site and says from his experience that the concept has been proven now, that there surely is an existing Gap, which will keep increasing and needs to be answered to, so that companies innovate and create services for the Billion Mobile users we will have in India int he coming years.

The start-up experience is nothing new for Sidhartha, but the excitement is still in full flow, as Sidhartha talks about how a team of 3 is managing the portal and he is looking at expading fast. Interstingly Sidhartha, also mentions how VASJobs is parnering with events, creating much value for them, providing access to the relevant market.

With the proven success story in WirelessDuniya, Sidhartha is on track with creating another online success with VASJobs.com and I wish him all the luck.

Single Available Women and Get Sexy Babes on Your Desktop for Free says Shaadi.com on facebook

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

12

Nov
14

Come find the soulmate for your daughter or the dream woman for your son on a website which says in its facebook ad:

Single available women and Get Sexy Babes on Your Desktop for Free and Looking for a girlfriend??! SHOCKING?? Well, yes, it is. I know of many a parents who are in the search for the suitable matches for their children and this is what the social networking site facebook says about this famous matrimonial site.

Let me put things in perspective now. While going through the facebook Ads, and randomly clicking on an Ad which said Single Available Women, was not my thing, but when it said, find your soulmate today at Shaadi free, I was hooked.

Is this a DATING site, I am going to? This is how my profile will be shown on an Ad tomorrow? Is this where I wish to find the best match for my son/daughter who are my future?

Is Shaadi.com not even clear about who they want to target the site to?

I today question the working of these so called matrimonial sites. I remember one of my research team members doing a research on matrimonial sites, sometime back, while I was consulting a new free matrimonial website in India, though I never knew this is what they will resort to, for generating traffic to their site.

Would you ever want your daughter’s picture on one of these Ads, saying Single Available Women!

I understand and agree that “Single available women” simply says that we have single women who are available for marriage on our site, but I protest by saying that there are better ways of putting across the message.

I have my own personal profile on Shaadi.com, though I dont use it and neither I would ever, but today I have a major doubt on their ethics. I dont know if my personal details are being shared across with some other site?

Just to earn clicks if this is what a site can resort to, to earn money they can resort to sharing personal data as well?!

shaadi.com fb AD

shadifbshaadibandbajega

The above captured URL’s (which have been sent to me, by a great friend, who is the founder of one of the best Design companies, and hence could capture the fast changing and re-directing URL’s) are PROOF how Shaadi.com guys are using indirect re-directs through third party hosts, to make you land up to their “Sexy Babes on Your Desktop” register page.

I call upon followers to show concern, as this is a matter of high priority where a single mis-representation of someone’s identity could harm an entire families reputation.

Exploring Business Opportunities in Germany at NASSCOM 53rd EMERGE Friday’s 2.0

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

None

Nov
13

As the Official Blogger for the NASSCOM Friday’s 2.0, many people ask me, that I would surely have a plethora of knowledge with me, as I have the opportunity to attend all the sessions and also since I LIVE blog the sessions, I must be highly attentive.

Today I again am excited to bring forth the high worth and value knowledge which gets created at the NASSCOM EMERGE Friday’s 2.0 and am glad to be making it alive for all of you who could not be present at the session, though we would love to have more participation along and expand the community.

Today we have Ulrich Bäumer, Partner, Osborne Clarke and BITKOM representative and Asha-Maria Sharma, Senior Manager, Service Industries, Germany Trade and Invest GmbH, giving us an insight into the German ICT environment and business verticals for partnership as identified by Germany Trade And Investment (GTAI) for Indian companies and important aspects of What works and what doesn’t in M&A, overview of the legal and practical ways of doing business in Germany.

The room is full and well, its interesting to know how many people in the room want to understand the German market. So we have the session with a brief introduction on what Germany Trade and Invest is.

  • Promoting Germany’s advantages as a prime location for foreign investors in hi-tech industries
  • Collecting and processing economic data and information about industries, tender procedures, legaal frameworks etc.

Interestingly, the investors consultancy part of the company, is into much diversified scope:

  • Renewable Energies and Resources
  • Chemicals and Healthcare
  • Mechanical and Electronic
  • Service Industries

We are now getting to know what it is all about being in Germany, with the geographical location to the travel time. To know how blackberry and Vodafone and such large companies are actually settling in Germany. Pros and Cons of different places for your business ill be different and you need to understand that, with relevance to your business.

We are talking clusters in Germany now, I am interested to know this space, as its pretty big a space in India as well and some really interesting work is on with respect to them.

Germany offers different incentive packages to re-imburse an investment project’s expenditures

With the market volume of above 133 billion Euros Germany’s ICT industry ranks second in Europe. These are interesting figures. in 2008 German companies closed a good number of BPO and IT deals, hence there is a plenty of space.

Germany is the most lucrative software market in Europe, accounting for 26.1% of the EU market value. We are talking about the diversification of software market in Germany.

There is a good presence of the SME industry in Germany and it could surely be of interest to many of you

Talking Green!

Green ideas in IT and Green through IT, is what we are working on this and should you have products under this umbrella, you should definitely explore Germany.

Software Security is one area which we are really concerned about. We have had cases with data loses with social networks and as anyone, we Germans are surely much sensitive about our personal information, hence there is good space in the domain. Embedded systems market is of a fairly good size in Germany and you will also find clusters in the Southern part related to the domain.

Germany has by far the highest number of internet users in Europe creating large potential for business

  • E-commerce
  • Gaming market
  • Online Advertising

I am personally amazed with the numbers on the slides, especially for the gaming and online advertising, which is showing a huge surge. German companies are moving from Print to Online.

  • Market growth areas: Green IT + E-Energy + E-health
  • Mobil apps: Increase in non-voice-services
  • Embedded systems
  • IT Services and Software

And now we are talking about the automotive industry in Germany, which to mention also is the home for Mercedez. The small manufacturers are spread across Germany and there is no one hub/ cluster.

I suggest the best way to get in touch is to attend conferences and other events to know the suppliers and other specific information you require about your business.

And now we have Ulrich, thanking everyone in the room, for whom this is the 12th visit to India. I advise SME’s in Germany also to get to India. And Ulrich shares the agenda for the session:

Interestingly we are going to discuss, Co-operation between Indian and German Companies. We have a very different law in Germany and its completely different in almost every way than what you have in India. Hence you need to understand the basic laws which are very important before you sign up your first customer in India.

You must definitely thank your peer Indian IT companies, who ventured into Germany 10-15 years back, coz they had to persuade German people, for the price and quality and hence for you guys its easier now to reach out to the German companies, which buy Indian IT not just because of the price, but for the quality as well.

So we have started with the introduction for the Law company which is Osborne Clarke. Very ineresting to know how many people they have helped set up in Germany. There are surely some very interesting and Big Indian names on the list that we have on screen.

Co-operation in Germany

  • Merger
  • Acquisition
  • JV
  • Partnership
  • Build Operate Transfer – It Outsourcing
  • Indo-German Strategic Alliance

Many of our M&A’s have been extremely successful and have been running for 10-15 years. Ulrich is sharing the previous success stories that they have created, and these also include some real big Indian corporate names.

So now we are discussing Common Law and Civil Laws in Germany which are surely an absolute necessity for you to set up in Germany.

Common Law (inductive)

Problem -> Judgement -> Ratio decidendi

Civil Law (deductive)

Statute -> Problem -> Application

I am very impressed with the way, Ulrich has simply explained the entire difference between the Common and Civil Laws and how can you in simple measures look at what you can expect when you reach the German shores, or establish out of India. Ulrich is very interestingly raised the awareness of the people in the room and sure all are all ears!

Now we are getting an insight into the European Legal System. Well, sure the German Law is definitely different from how we operate in India. And now gets answered the question, of many a people who wanted to know about Branch offices and how to set them up in Germany.

The outsourcing market is growing in Germany and I think in 2010 the curve will continue to grow up

Good to see how the Indian IT Services industry has grown and set foot in Germany. And well this figure has raised since 2007. Service providers have now crossed out to the other side.

Have you ever thought about off-shoring: 27% of the part said to this that they have larger projects already LIVE which have been off-shored. If we do off-shoring, we do it to India, is what the 67% of the people who answered this sample survey said. Some really interesting figures, being shared by Ulrich.

I personally dont see a single Chinese company, to overtake any of the large Indian IT service companies. China will NOT be a challenge in the near future for the Indian ITeS market.

In the Non Voice market, I dont see players as large as those in India, challenging the Indian players.

Language barrier is a comfort issue, in my experience it has been like: 80% of the deals across the table have happened in English. Its always good to have a native speaker, but its not a necessity.

Ulrich again shares the 8 key issues which you can face in your outsourcing contract in Germany.

  • warranty
  • Liability
  • Acceptance
  • Delay
  • Change requests
  • etc.

Talking about warranty, liability and guaranty. Well, yes the entire room is interested in this conversation. Ulrich presents the whole idea of liability with very simply presented examples. Well liability without any limitation under German law, implies fully, if you have not mentioned anything about it in your contract. Eyes get raised at such a point.

The data protection laws in Germany are surely something to learn from. The labour laws are surely pretty strict in Germany. The session is interactive and there are good questions coming from the audience.

And now we end with the session with the audience still very interested and questions pouring in with respect to IPR and other related to the IT services.

Its been a good session and I feel good to know about Business in Germany, thanks to Asha and Ulrich for their precious time.

SHOCKING: You and Your Online Brand Consultants – Positioned Towards a Perfect Brand Bust

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

1

Nov
01

In my endeavor of establishing transparency and clarity in the, Ohh so amazing and new world of Social Media and Online Marketing, I am sure the series of posts I am doing now, will surely be an eye opener for clients.

Just sometime back, my strategy team did a search on the keywords, Social Media and India, and what we got were people who have sometime or the other in their professional lifetime, related to the Social Media industry. And since Social Media is not an age old concept, thus we started looking at the profiles of people who are currently into the profession.

To my UTTER AMAZE, the profiles, I was given were an absolute NO, if they were to handle my brand strategy not just on the internet but everywhere else. Interestingly, these people are recruited by not just the small Social Media ‘shops’ but the biggies in the business as well. Positioned highly, these guys are given fancy terms and well, the customer is sold!

Let me bring more clarity by looking at certain aspects of what my strategy team gave me, post the data analysis:

  • Education
    • Majority of these people have not done management (which I am not suggesting is necessary)
    • 80% of them, do not have the words, Branding Consultant, Marketing, Positioning, Product life cycle, etc in their summary/ profiles
  • Current
    • The current profiles are all Social Media Strategist, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Executive
  • Past
    • There are people from BPO, from Technology, Adventure Tourism, Operations who are handling your So called Social Media Branding and Online Branding and Brand Creation and what not
  • Experience
    • Most of these people are fresh (1-3 years) of experience and are running the show

In my personal view, I completely agree that innovative thinking, creativity are needed, but is it that you will hand over your brand in the hands of someone who does NOT even understand what Brand stands for?!

This revelation by the team, surely opened my eyes towards how is the New Media industry being structured and shaping up. We are playing on chances and one of running successes.

EXPOSED:Branding and Obscenity are Pretty Much the same – Why Online Marketing Did not Work for You

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

4

Oct
30

Well, I am back from a very good trip to Bangalore. Met some old entrepreneur friends, some interesting people. Connected with some very established people and re-fueled my engine for my entrepreneurial journey ahead!

Though while on the way I connected with some online marketers on the flight back and here I am writing a piece which I have wanted to since sometime now!

Let me start by saying: Branding and Obscenity are Pretty Much the Same

Why do I say this? Well, the guy sitting right next to me looked at a book I was reading, which was about Branding and how radical concepts have changed consumer perception overtime. I was reading a few case studies and making notes, for a couple of Offline Branding Campaigns I am working on. Now suddenly this guy shoots, about how he is an Online Marketer and does handles campaigns online and how his firm has been doing lots of work.

Without an introduction, I heard him as a client, and asked queries, and he started telling me about how Google helps, SEO, PPC and SMM works. Especially SMM, which we also know by Social Media Marketing. Since I was in the Case Study mode, I posed a question:

Give me 4 solid case studies with the ROI that you have generated for the client or where you have actually gone back to the client telling him that he needed offline/ other marketing techniques as well, and how did you execute it!

And this gentleman starts discussing the best works he has done. A viral campaign, which had x number of hits…Helped a company generate these many leads online (which he had no ideas, of how much was the conversion).

Anyway, being a good listener, I patiently heard him, and then asked another question:

What is the difference between Branding and Marketing and why did some of his campaigns did not survive and what he then suggested to those clients?

I am NOT generalizing this, but I have been interacting with Online Marketers, majority of them in their late 20′s and early 30′s who have had no experience of raising a brand. Who have not seen the entire cycle, boasting about serving the Indian SME in scaling up.

I have been into the Social Media scene, since sometime now, and have struggled with the statistics, which I could really go back with, to a client and suggest him, this is where you should increase/ decrease your marketing spend and this is what you should look at diversifying.

I have NEVER heard from an Online Marketer that they have ever gone back to the client telling them, that look you product needs this, as this is what you customer is looking for on the internet

Majority of Online Marketing companies optimize campaigns according to what the clients are searching a product/ service with. Well, I challenge this thought. How do you that it was the right consumer who was searching this term which you just took from suggestions which Google Adwords provide you.

Branding – YES, Social Media helps You do Just That

Okay, so now I have my Branding lessons on. I get to know how Branding is established, online:

  • a page/ profile on facebook
  • an account on twitter
  • targeted Ads on blogs/ sites
  • ghost writing on discussion forums etc.
  • videos on YouTube
  • ppts on Slideshare
  • photos on flickr

And if you still cannot achieve traffic numbers, well, go and post this content on various multiple platforms which are identical, so your content will be looked upon by more and more people an chances by simple probability to achieve are higher.

Okay, so I understand probability, but I am still not convinced with this number generation method, I remarked.

I am a Social Media guy and I have a problem with how things are going in India today

Okay, so for all those, who feel I have a personal bias, I have explored the online media to a good extent and hence I write my thoughts here. Majority of bloggers, social media experts/ evangelists/ marketers, strategists, have not had any Branding experience and talk Brand all the time. I have a particular issue with this, as many a times, what they dont realize is they can grow only if their client(S) grow.

Online is the new thing – you have to get on Social Media coz DELL made 3 million dollars from twitter

This is what I have heard from every religious online marketer, I have interacted with, who is pitching to any business from technology to holiday to whatever. Coz DELL did it, hence the opportunity exists and as in India, a small company thinks, even if I can achieve 30% of this, at a low cost, well I will make decent numbers.

And what happens month on month when you go ahead with Online Marketing for your business

  • MONTH 1
    • Both the online marketing agency and the client are excited, many things happening around, online training, blogs building up, google ads, higher listing on search engines WOW
      • The marketer goes back and shares the numbers:
      • number of blogs, number of blog posts, google ads numbers, how they got the company(s) site(S) listed high on search engines on specific keywords
  • Month2
    • Create content | POST it – HOST it – Virality!
      • Lets do it! Pictures, PPTs, Blog posts, Videos and what not
      • We will post it here – there – everywhere and wallah this will happen and this
    • Conversations are not happening – says the client!
      • Lets do ghost writing
      • Lets do ghost profiles
      • Lets do ghost comments
  • Month3
    • Houston We’v got a PROBLEM
      • Firefighting mode

What did you till now, after a quarter?

Well, Sir, look at your brand, look at how many people came to this landing page, look at all of this. Sales will start happening soon.

Lets See – the client now is thinking of how to convert the contract into a pay for performance?

Well, and this is where problems start. Retainership goes down and performance kicks in, knowing well, you dont even know what GAP EXISTS (if any) between the following parties:

  • Senior management
  • Existing (employees and clients)
  • Prospective (employees and clients)

The majority of online marketers, go ahead with no such GAP analysis, and without knowing what exists in the market and what needs to be addressed, just go ahead because they have a medium to connect people with, because out of the 300 million plus people on facebook, there will always be some who will be looking for your product/ service.

Well, I have no inherent bias against anyone, but if I strongly feel, if you are not clear of something, well, dont fluke and sell, coz what you don’t realize is anyway, after 3 years, there are only the better ones, who will be having the repetitive business, because you will be out of market to which you have been marketing.

How is it like Living On Just DREAMS

, , , , , , ,

3

Oct
20

Why do I pay 45 when the burger is for 40…written on d menu? It’s the VAT sir, replied the cashier.
I asked this question when I went into a restaurant to catch up with a bite last night.

Well, being an entrepreneur is a life of Pride, Passion and amongst many more things its about living life on the edge. I have seen many people around who say look we are running a side business while we still earn from a day job. Alas, I took the harder path.

With a right on the edge bank account, no financial backing at all…and nothing else, other than DREAMS to count on, I am learning and growing each day. Feels hard at times…people tell me, that leaving some very lucrative and smart paying job offers which I was being flooded with, even in these times of recession was foolish on my part. Well, and all I have as an answer is: there are DREAMS to take care of, they are calling!

As I am writing this blog post from my mobile phone, since I had to leave my laptop which was given to me by my previous company. I realize somethings in life: im being taught how NOT to be dependent on things and how to CREATE POSSIBILITIES in every situation.

It’s been great being an entrepreneur and as I start my new journey as the Co-founder and CMO, Proideaz Consulting, I look for wishes and support in creating a whole new world of opportunities.

Thanks to all my family n friends, esp my Mom n the other best part of my life…who’v been amazing pillars of emotional support always.

Its time to get cracking and see more DREAMS!!

Innovation and Entrepreneurship – India’s Best Ice Candy Googled, Gogola India

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

2

Oct
13

I landed back from Mumbai just yesterday and surely it was great LIVE Blogging the biggest Leadership event ever in India. Out of my many experiences in the financial capital of India and the city of dreams. Bollywood stars and the rest, I found this very amazing example of simple yet striking innovation by an entrepreneur.

This is what I found:

Gogola India - paritosh sharma

What you see in the picture above, no its not a Google van! Its the freshest and the best Gola (ice candy) made of fresh mineral water and fruit juices called Gogola India.

I bumped across this van while I was going for a meeting on the Hill street near the Globus mall in Mumbai and just for the fun of it and to interact with the van guys, I did buy two Golas from the van. The van looked pretty okay (a second hand maruti van) with all the electrical machines inside to make a good gola in seconds.

Interestingly, the menu is like an IE page, which gives you all the options of the various flavors available :) simple, yet unique!

The Revenue figures of a single van which stands since 12pm till late in the night and keeps rotating in between two streets in Mumbai are:

  • Daily sale (golas): 300 (in good times) 150-200 (in normal business days)
  • Price per gola : INR 30
  • Positioning of van is changed on weekdays and weekends
  • There are more than 10 vans in the city, doing the rounds

My Feedback and Comments as an Incubation Consultant:

  • Good to see that the logo has been duly trade-marked (good asset)
  • Good revenue model (taking in consideration, all operational costs, costs of building the supply chain, maintenance of vehicle etc.)
  • Simple and effective!

The Gola I had, was pretty good and was surely packed in a healthy manner, with properly kept juice/ color bottles.

11102009(002)

I very strongly feel, the kind of Innovation we have in India, is amazing! Its simplistically brilliant and a concept which can surely become into an auto-generating proposition, and once your brand is recognizable, and you have a size, you can diversify.

Kudos to the entrepreneur :)

Ms. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, LIVE at The Leaders In India 2009 On Entrepreneurship

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

None

Oct
10

So, we have Ms. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw post lunch at The Leaders In India 2009. I have always admired Kiran as a woman entrepreneur. She has proven words with actions! My respects Mam :)

Talkign about the Global Biotech sector Kiran says that it is a business size of over 90 billion dollars globally. Each of the past decades have triggered a new growth of innovation. Interesting to know how the entire Biotech industry has evolved over time. Though Ihave not really understood the Biotech industry much, but sure, I am intrigued!

My own journey of Biocon has been that of experimenting and learning! I call myself an accidental entrepreneur!

I was always interested in brewing. I have had to overcome countless challenges over decades. We started small with simple technologies we built and also partnering has helped me build my own entrepreneurial vision. I started my entrepreneurial journey when I had the provilige of starting India’s first Biotech company, which had its own large number of challenges. People were very skeptical of success and at my time, India was still a developing company and we had sub-optimal structure that we have today and it was the time of the license raj than today. I was a 25 yearold first generation woman entrepreneur!

All I had was foolish courage!

There was no access to VC all I could avail of was very expensive debt based funding which I accepted. I was very driven by green technology at that time. But there were very few takers at that time and one of the BIG challenges I had was, the space I was getting into, was based on one very important need, which is: high quality uniterrupted power supply which India does not have even today.

I started my business from scratch opting for less evolved technology. We focused on a niche opportunity, as I had to be very real about the infrastructure and the environment I was working in. I always knew that India was a very small market for me and hence I had to operate in a niche which gave me some kind of advantage. Also in my starting years, what helped me was, I started this as a JV with a small Irish partner, and they provided me with assistance to market, my product to Global markets and this is what helped my business started.

Up until 1980′s we were still loners in Biotech in India

It was really abotu building this company step by painful step and slowly the Biotech sector started gaining acceptance in India when the govt realized the importance. Creating the skill based that we need to drive this industry has paid us fairly well in time. Thankfully because of the success of the IT and software sector, the VC had taken root in India. Since this happened, we started looking towards VC funding, when we tried to scale up. It also allowed to develop sophisticated products and I was able to compete due to our cost base.

By late 1990′s I had a fermentation unit which could handle all sorts of enzymes

The cluster effect that had started in Bangalore really helped us. the boom in Bangalore had many innovative start-ups in the space which also helped the entire industry as such and hence we were benefited. We had international players coming into India setting up operations which helped gain confidence and many are now building scale into what they were doing. Biocon had started gaining market leadership in the niche segment we were looking at.

As an entrepreneur I felt that enzyme segment was going to be limiting to our growth and we had to take some hard decisions

We hence applied our technology to develop into bio-pharmaceuticals. We were the first to cut across the IP barriers hence defining new opportunities.

“We are the world’s first and only company i manufacturing Insulin and Insulin analogs and I am proud to say that”

Overtime we have become bolder in saying that lets innovate in the Bio-pharmaceuticals now. We can today afford to innovate, we can afford to build programs around new products. Innovation in the field of Bio-tech is something we must surely take very seriously. We tend to opt for low risk services and generic versions of drugs and vaccines.

In India the cost of risk is very affordable and hence we must back innovation

What is happening to companies in the western world, is an opportunity for us. I think India really has a good opportunity to cash on in what is happening in the western world. There is a whole new emerging opportunity in Bio-generics. We will pursue Innovation led mantra to grow and that is really my goal as a company and myself as an entrepreneur! All along e have constantly challeneged ourselves and tracked new technologies.

An important learning that I have learned as an entrepreneur is challenging the status quo and moving ahead

We are trying to develop world’s first Oral insulin and its going to be a game changer for us, if it happens

We have really made a lot of conscious effort in partnering with companies, which has actually helped us leapfrog, and it has been a great business tactic for us. In our journey there is one inflection point, I had a tough and emotional call to make! Enzyme was going no where as we were not really investing enough in it, the reason being we had limited resources. And hence we finally said, we must dis-invest and divested into our competition and they have invested and grown this business fr more than we were doing it at that stage. But we surely benefited out of the IP and knowledge we had built over time. We bought a company in Germanhy which will help us start our operations in Europe.

We have started building global scale in our businesses

Our strategy has been always to develop products, leveraging India’s cost base and using affordability as our competitive edge and we are determined to do it at an affordable rate.

My message to other companies from developing world(s) is, who are stretching hard to fight against odds, we have:

  • Dont hesitate to partner when you want to pursue certain business opportunities, it allows you to grow faster
  • Its important to start simple and start local, be realistic about matching your skill sets w.r.t technologies you are trying to develop

I started my life as a brewmaster looking to brew beer, your journey can take you anywhere, but your life should be an inspiring hope :)

It was great to listen to you Ms. Mazumdar Shaw as usual! The fire of entrepreneurship has surely gotten a needed kick from you!

Now we have the session int he Q&A mode!

Praveen Rajpal, Author & Global Innovation Thought Leader, FICCI at Leaders In India 2009

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

None

Oct
10

Praveen Rajpaul, talks about Innovation and how FICCI is helping organizations to improve their productivity and how innovation is changing the riles of the game.

Innovation distinguishes between a LEADER and a follower says Mr. Rajpaul

What do you need for innovation? Its an Idea!

  1. Incremental
  2. Revolutionary
  3. Disruptive
  4. Game changer

Unless we have all these sorts if ideas, we wont’ further. But how do you generate such ideas? Is there a process? Can we make it simple? How can we simplify the process of generating the ideas? Puts forth Mr. Rajpaul to the gathering!

Golden Principles of Innovation:

  1. COMBINE
    1. products
    2. proceesses
    3. technologies
    4. disciplines
    5. capabilities
    6. arts and science
  2. REVERSE
    1. conventions
    2. business models
    3. products
    4. processes
    5. Orthodoxing
  3. ELIMINATE
  4. ADJUST
    1. Cost
    2. Time
    3. Space
  5. DIVIDE
    1. Handling
    2. Transportation
    3. Space
  6. SUBSTITUTE
    1. Greener
    2. Lighter
    3. Faster
    4. Better
    5. Stronger
    6. Smarter
  7. UTILIZE
    1. Talent
    2. Brand
    3. Networks
    4. Waste
    5. Harmful effects
  8. MODIFY
    1. Designs
    2. Eco friendly
    3. Energy efficient
  9. UNLOCK CREATIVITY
    1. Passion

Well, there have been some real fantastic principles, that we have seen over time and some real fantastic concepts, which may be workable and may be just vague at the same time. But good to see innovatoin in my lifetime!

LIVE Blogging the Day Two of Leaders In India with Steve Tappin and Mr. Adi Godrej

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

None

Oct
10

So here I am Live blogging the Day two of Leaders In India 2009, with the first keynote being delivered by Mr. Adi Godrej.

I am sure this is going to be a great learning session with immense value for all present.

Our group has a fairly long history, we are 112 years old, Our sales turnover is a little over a 100 billion rupees

Interestingly Adi is sharing keen information about the Godrej business and they have grown till date. In 1991 we clearly felt that we had to give a boost to our competitiveness. We partnered global companies in our existing businesses, which were GE and P&G as Joint Ventures, though they dont’ continue today.

We learnt a lot from these great International organizations, which we have implemented over the years and they have learnt a lot about India, from us

Each of our companies and businesses, has a non family managing director or president who runs the company, I am surely interested in learning this.  We have a rather strict rule which has that only professionally qualified family members can join the business.

I am the third generation in the business and the fourth has already been inducted into the business

One of the major values we believe in is, that people are our strongest assets. We go out of our way to LIVE the value that people are our strongest assets. We have a constitution of a young executive board, one’s with great future potential and their job is to look at strategy, corporate governance, HRD etc, and then advice the Group CEO’s. Hence we get a tremendous bottom up response. I am very intrigued with the learning from Mr. Godrej.

Being a family business, as a professional and entrepreneur, I am so glad to hear and learn about the functioning of the Godrej group and how it is constituted at various levels. Very interestingly the structure provides the company a very strong bottom up feedback in runnign the company and in my view provides them with a great leadership development tool, creating a very scalable structure.

We have very emphatic programs on diversity within the group

Whenever we have emphasized diversity, the talent we get is much better than the average, Eg: if you go out of the way to recruit strong women, you get great talent, in cases much better than men. We have a very strong E-MBA program within the group. People who have not yet done a management degree, are eligible and promoted to do so. We insist on a 5 day learning schedule.

I myself make sure that I at least spend 30 days a year for learning

We follow a process of forced ranking in our group, we force ranks into non-performers and extra-ordinary achievers. The bottom non-performers which we get everytime in ranking, as it is relative. What this process doe sin a country like India is to strongly improve the working of the team, as everybody does good to work to be in the top 20 per cent.

I get evaluated by my sub-ordinates on a 360 degree basis regularly, and this is only a self evaluation tool

We re-assess our portfolio on a very regular basis and in the last years we have had several strategic acquisitions. We hired a British branding partner called Interbrand to re-launch our brand and it helped us great way in re-positioning our brand and leverage the brand asset value and equity towards achieving growth!

Interestingly we have Mr. Godrej talking about the various succession plans in the company.  Talking about succession planning, Mr. Godrej talks about what if you tomorrow come down a bus, well, we are planned for it, and I remember having the similar conversation with a friend, while running an Incubation Consulting company.