So I was among the elite (I should consider ;-))who were like who is who in the business to have gathered to what looked like the most sought after event in the corporate world. I got there on time, bang at 6:30 PM at The Taj Land’s End and pretended to be busy on my Blackberry, something I had to do simply because I knew no one in that elite world where suddenly I was thrown in.
The invitation in itself was a surprise and further to that the whole aura of the people gathered there and the discussions that were happening made me look hapless within myself, so I had little choice but to look here and there to check if I knew any faces at all with whom I could have indulged in a conversation but unfortunately I knew no one.
By making myself look busy on my Blackberry replying to some unwanted emails, I hit the bar to get some scotch for company and then walked around in this world of super achievers sensing the pride of corporate India within me. I read things about people who had won over the last 10 yrs, read about the jury and some bright quotes, which made me think hard on some of the stuff I have been doing and how similar thoughts actually are within the gamut of activities one does in this world of entrepreneurship.
So 1 hour passed and bang at 7:30PM the event began with the Master Of Ceremony beginning the show. It began with some wonderful AVs that in itself brought in goose bums in my system and then one line caught my attention in a big way. Actually till then I hadn’t ever checked the dictionary to check out the meaning of what “Entrepreneur” means simply because we all know what it means however when the AV said what the exact meaning was, I was taken aback. Its a French word that means, “a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, esp. a business”. Now there is so much more to the word in today’s understanding that sometimes this meaning means nothing. Entrepreneur means so much more outside of this in today’s world, it means someone who has the vision for the future, it means someone who has the ability to take risks, it means someone who has the balls to go the distance on a conviction, it means someone who knows how to do business with considerable initiative, it means someone who understands optimal gain though knowing very well that there is a huge risk in the undertaking, it means someone who has all the wherewithal to go by what his passion says and it means several other things attached to doing business, right?
I could now relate and boy I could now relate and well well well I now can relate in total.
So the event began with some eminent personalities like Digvijay Singh, Ex-Sebi Chairman - Damodaran, Rajiv Mamani, Country Managing Partner, EYI and some other dignitaries. Welcome speech, address speech etc etc happened and I was holding my breath for the award function to begin and just before all this I was actually figuring out where I would be sitting and I was told, I could take any seat leaving the first 3rows and while I was gazing I took one extreme left corner seat close to the stage and off course next to the bar and next to me where some important people, Gautam Saigal, Madhusudhan Menon, Ashvani Srivastava and more eminent personalities like Harsh Mariwala, Anand Mahindra, Vandana Luthra and some more were sitting.
I was wondering - wow, I am amidst all of these people who have built large scalable businesses ranging between 3yrs to 25yrs and some of these have turnovers of over 1000crs in just 5yrs of it’s existence. It just shook me up in total and I knew I wanted to be in their shoes sooner than later. Building a 10-15cr organisation in 1yr has given me all the confidence of making a large business out of this sombre beginning in the next 5yrs. It might be through this business or it might be through some new stuff we may do or it might be something thats revolutionary but I was sure we would do it.
Coming back to this event, there were 17 nominations for the Entrepreneur Of The Year and there was 1 Life Time Achievement. The latter was something that was close to my heart because it was going to be handed over to Mr. Vagul, Executive Chairman Of ICICI, the visionary and the man who transformed what ICICI today is and more so because he and my dad were once close friends during my father’s banking days. Like Vaghul, my dad was the youngest GM of Bank Of Maharashtra and was considered a serious candidate for many government banks by the Governor of Reserve Bank as it’s top honcho, it’s a different story that my dad moved out of banking to become an entrepreneur.
So the finalists were Amit Mittal, Sanjeev Narula, Tapaas Chakravarti, OP. Bhatt, VRS. Natrajan, M. Venugopalan, Amit Patel, Sai Ramakrishna Karuturi, DB. Gupta, RC. Juneja, Vandana Luthra, Hardeep Singh Bedi, Vikram Akula, Harsh Mariwala, Pankaj Patel, Shashi Shetty and Anand Mahindra.
All of these people come from diverse backgrounds, humble childhood but had that great vision, which today is contributing to the society and is transform the way we consume any of the products and services coming from their stable. Whether its a Sintex or whether its a Parachute or for that matter even a automobile, these people have really made things happen.
First the honors for various categories were done and all of the above finalists won something or the other and then Mr. Vaghul was awarded the life time achievement award, his speech was impeccable and I had this huge euphoria inside me as if I was getting the award - LOL. As he came back to his seat, I mustered guts, walked up to where he was sitting, congratulated him, introduced myself, handed over my card and then used my father’s name to get him interested in talking to me and boy I had the best 3mins post my interaction with Chris Gardner in Palm Springs while at Yahoo in early 08. It was brilliant to say the least!!!
Then the time came and the winner as we all know now was Anand Mahindra, for a man who has transformed Mahindra & Mahindra to a formidable force by taking those mega risks, backing a young designer’s thought of a Scorpio, which has turned around the fortune of this company to taking that bold step of acquiring Satyam; I think this man was the deserving winner. The whole elite crowd stood and he had a standing ovation, it was a supreme feeling to have been part of this ovation, the claps still linger in my ears as if its still happening. Brilliant, congratulations Anand Mahindra.
So we all walked back into the Land’s End and while walking back, I spotted Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and I knew I had to speak to him so I slowly walked besides him and removed a card of mine and said hello. He never acknowledged - LOL, but I was not going to miss this opportunity to get introduced, I was determined as hell, 3 hellos later he looked at me and his phone rang and he said one sec. I continued walking with him and as he finished his call, I said 30secs we could talk as we walk :-). Gave him my card and told him what we do. He heard me out and said he will stay in touch, that was enough for me, while I am not seeking anything from him, I just wanted to ensure he knew me and my company and my objective was achieved.
Further I just kept walking with all the winners not knowing that they are headed to a winner’s lounge - LOL. Because I kept walking unknowingly with all these biggies no one stopped me and I was suddenly in this lounge where there were media personnel and just about 18 families and man I knew I had come to a wrong place but what the hell, I wasn’t going to leave without a few congratulations to the winners. So first I congratulated Anand Mahindra and then struck a quick conversation with Vikram Vakula - Founder of SKS Micro-Finance, I had to meet him, he has done what otherwise would have been thought as impossible in our country and his company is rewriting the art of financing, what a brain and the story he told about what inspired him to do this was even more mesmerizing to say the least! Can you think of this - 11500 Crs dispersed @ 99.5% repayment rate, which financial institution might be having such a record? Man awesomeness!!!!!
So my rendezvous with who is who ended here and I walked out forgetting that I had been dropped at Taj and had to find my own way back to my guest house. I felt so cheap to walk out and catch an auto but thats me, I dint bother to think twice to take an auto. Maybe one day I win this award and still travel by auto from the award function.
Cheers
Ram
By Rammohan Sundaram @ 9:13 pm