Indian Entrepreneurship in doldrums

Recently while surfing the net for reading material on Venture Capital in India, I came across an interesting article.(http://www.sramanamitra.com/articles/venture-capital-in-india/)

In the article the author describes how the committed capital chasing India is abundant but that in today’s India, the commodity in short supply is good entrepreneurs. Bulls eye!

The arguments enumerated by the author are very convincing. Take for instance these paragraphs- “Historically, India has been the world’s back-office. Consequently, the skill-set that has developed in India is that of engineering management and coding. The specifications are provided by teams elsewhere. Elsewhere, the market studies get done. Indian managers do not understand global technology markets. They have hardly had opportunity to learn this aspect of business. Entrepreneurs try to position products without knowledge of the product marketing discipline.
The natural instinct for Indian entrepreneurs is to build outsourcing services companies. BPO. Software Development. Chip Design. Those ventures take less capital, and become revenue generating fast. None of the Operating Loss period of a pure play product company is necessary, and hence, venture capital is also unnecessary.”

Juxtapose this situation against the entrepreneurship boom in China that we are hearing so much about. China has today become the second most influential economy in the world and it is an open secret that the Chinese government’s move to mobilize its working population towards entrepreneurship has a big role to play in what China has grown to become today. From an over-populated poor country to a country that can make the US President Bow to its wills-quite literally!

Yet year after year a talented pool of Indian youth bred to set their minds on corporate jobs in multinational firms pass out from professional colleges and universities in India, with their eyes set on the 5-6 figure salaries that they can lay their hands on in these MNCs, opening the door for a grand lifestyle. There are very few who dare to take the road less travelled-that of the entrepreneur!

Skip to the scene in China again, the country that is pushing India up the wall be it in trade, economy, growth or muscle power in international relations- border dispute included! The dragon has the largest pool of entrepreneurs today and is soon set to overtake India in having the largest English speaking population.

Holding the mirror to the difference between the 2 countries is a reality show titled Win in China where the best entrepreneur is the winner, the winner receiving nearly $1.5 million dollars to invest in their new business plan. Win in China is more than a lucrative business plan competition – it is an opportunity for the government to educate, motivate and inspire the latent entrepreneurial talent in the most populous nation on earth.

Have you seen this in India, a country where every possible reality show finding success abroad is aped?! Of course we Indians only like to watch dramatic marriage hunts and celebrities bitching about each other in the reality shows!

Throwing more light on the scenario is a documentary #WinInChina that uses the world’s largest and most lucrative business-plan competition –Win in China– as the metaphor to explore the radical cultural changes taking place in China and the surge of Chinese entrepreneurs, to consider the implications for the rest of the world.

The documentary directed by Robert A. Compton, the Executive Producer of the Two Million Minutes series on global education describes how in the 30 years since Mao’s death, China has evolved from deep poverty to the second largest economy in the world – quietly lifting 400 million people out of abject poverty.

The documentary shows Chinese capitalism in its rawest form. Beneath the game show’s surface lies a nuanced, subtle view of Chinese business practices, ambitions, ethical norms and competitive behaviors.

The timing of the documentary couldn’t have been more apt, what with India looking more like a sitting duck for the Chinese onslaught with every passing day!

When CROOKS rule us!

During the past few days I have frequently wondered on the doomsday Karnataka is fast heading to. No this is not in any way connected to the movie 2012 which seems to have the people believing that the end of the world is near! Sigh! (And I used to think the majority of the general public was sensible! Double Sigh!)

Anyways resuming my soliloquerie; the abyss the state is descending to seems to be more dangerous than the journey itself. Karnataka sold….! That too to crooks-money mongers who do not give a damn about the state, its people or its welfare! Did I just say welfare? Ha ha ha ha do these people even care about a word such as welfare! These so called mining lords who are concerned about nothing but making their already thick pockets thicker!

Why I have a problem with the entire scenario: (No am not a supporter of the BJP but a firm believer in democracy and societal law & order)

1.The brothers in question and a close associate have shaken the basic premise of democracy. By challenging a governmental head constitutionally voted by the people of the state, the trio with their band of equally shameless and money hungry MLAs have tried to stand taller than the people’s will-the foundation of a democracy. Being a part of the government in question and leading a coup against it is the greatest breach of trust to be committed especially when such a coup is fuelled by a thirst for power and arrogance in one’s wealth.

2.The coup is strongly related to the restrictions being contemplated on the illegal mining activities in the ore rich district of Bellary. In the process the crooks in question whisked away the elected MLAs from their constituency for days, that too in a time when many of the constituencies needed their MLAs the most for flood relief work to be implemented. While people suffered, these MLAs enjoyed and relaxed in a resort in Hyderabad! Hyderabad! That’s my 3rd point.

3.The ultimate insult-the coup decamped after setting the Karnataka government on fire to Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh! The Reddys who even after living in Karnataka, eating the ‘salt of the land’ as old timers may call it and after raping the ore rich lands and forest cover in Bellary (a lot of it illegally) and making money out of it, still hold strong ties with their mother state. It is even believed they wield considerable political power in A.P. Rule Karnataka and benefit A.P seems to be their maxim.

Now for the PJ, the front page of a newspaper carried a ripping revelation from one of the MLAs involved in the coup. The MLA allegedly said “We (the MLAs involved in the coup) are here in Hyderabad to plan for the development of Andhra Pradesh”!!!!!! Ha ha ha har har har this coming from an elected representative from KARNATAKA! The F@#%ing B@$#!%d probably does not even know where his line of duty lies! Sad! Maybe that explains why Karnataka lies where it is!!! The capital of which has Kannadigas at a crying minority and the state government writhing at the hands of the ‘Reddys’! Of course my blood boils!

4.Social stigma ousted a woman out of power. This is how I would describe the ire directed at Shobha Karandlaje in the midst of all this drama. Fine, the CM who is another crook trying to retain his footing among a hoard of bigger and greedier crooks had a soft corner for her! Agreed, she usurped the power of other male (chauvinist) ministers to become the CMs right hand. But the way the only woman in the cabinet was thrown out to satisfy the male ego left me feeling disgusted! That too when the peace maker in this case from the BJP high command was a woman!

5.Last but not the least, the irresolution of the BJP leaders in the centre to overthrow dissidence and give the CM the much needed support, not because he deserves it but to stop Karnataka being sold to ‘corrupt to the core’ worms who call themselves politicians! The irresolution of the central leaders of the BJP has left the government crippled for the rest of its life-god knows how long it is! Not only has it rendered the govt a mere puppet at the hand of the @#%$#! but given encouragement to corruption, sin and havoc!

The hype created by the media in this case has done more harm than good. The media seems to be giving un-necessary visibility to the dissidents and their unashamed quest for power. (Not to mention the support in some of the Telugu media.

Atleast if the government had ordered a mass probe against the illegal mining in the ore rich districts instead of taking monetary support from the perpetrators themselves, we would not have had to face this situation today!!!! What can we do…only hope and pray for a better tomorrow and meanwhile bray out in our blogs and drawing rooms! And of course I forgot- think twice before selecting one crook over the other in the next elections.