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Entrepreneurs Braving Odds

The young entrepreneurs have innovated and made goods without out-of-box ideas. — Vinod Johri

 

Second season of Sony channel reality show “Shark Tank India” stirred the mind to think and document the ideas and thought process of self-motivated aspirational entrepreneurs who are obsessed with pursuit to success despite odds of experience, funds and support. The idea and motive are not to promote any TV show but to grab the ideas and spirit of entrepreneurs and investors. It may be a scripted show yet real success stories are quite encouraging. It is so heartening to see that youth of 19-20 years, drop-outs are earning Rs. 1.5 Lakh to Rs. 2 Lakh per month with hard work, perseverance & innovation while IIM & ISB Grads are taking huge risks of entrepreneurship with mammoth success in short time. They have busted business myths. The Sharks i.e. investors are also very young entrepreneurs of top brands, who thrash, encourage and grill the founders & promoters seeking investments on certain terms. It astonishes that new age entrepreneurs have huge knowledge of the businesses and global trends as well as market dynamics. They have bravely ventured into unexplored avenues. There are entrepreneurs including women who had no business background, no technical skill, no capital and no knowledge of markets. They had passion to fight odds in their life, break from past, independence from family shackles and have taken risks.  

They have innovated and made goods with out-of-box ideas. From food items to pharmaceutical products to safely equipments for forest camping & forest guards to pregnancy related monitoring systems, they are ready to rock. What they need, is technical support, market guidance and investment not as debts but on equity basis. They all make swadeshi products long term strategy and with big dreams.

Further, the recipients of Business Awards of various Associations, Publications, Media houses etc. have great success stories which inspire the business world so deeply that it compels to rethink and redefine the needs of present industry. We encourage to use swadeshi products in our daily life and consequently create market demand of swadeshi products so that our indigenous industry in MSME sector grows massively thus generating employment, self-employment and ancillaries in urban and rural areas. MSMEs are key to making Bharat a global production hub. MSMEs are the harbinger of entrepreneurship and innovation which are important pillars for lifting our country’s capacity in shifting towards the manufacture and exports of sophisticated high-tech products and help move the global value chains. Of course, it is most important to use swadeshi goods but it is also equally important that swadeshi goods are produced not only to our satisfaction but also to the profitable satisfaction of the industry and entrepreneurs. The swadeshi industry needs to be transformed through innovation, latest technology in AI, robotics and digitisation in real time to meet changing demands and conditions in the industry, in the supply network and in customer needs. Brand building is must in swadeshi industry as consumer is directly connected with the brands. Fab India, Haldiram, Tanishq, MDH, Dabur, Godrej, Lakme, Jaguar, Liberty, Amul, Patanjali, Jhandu, Tata are few of the most successful examples. 

Newspapers carry out special features and cover stories on budding entrepreneurs. Women from naxal affected areas of Jharkhand, infested with opium crops, are now cultivating marigold (gende ka phool) with self-help groups and earning good income. Large number of women have made groups in Varanasi and making laddoo prasad for temples like Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple and are sold instantly giving them respectful earning. Women from Bundelkhand are making agarbatti, candles etc. About 45000 Bundelkhand women have ventured into dairy business of annual turnover of Rs. 230 crores. More than 1200 women of 41 self-help groups from Devas, Madhya Pradesh are making bamboo products in 2.5 acres with 4.5 bamboo trees. 

Brand Building & Technology

Brand building is a marketing need and adoption of latest technology is now indispensable for our swadeshi products. One of the other themes gaining prominence is brands working towards bringing their purpose to life. Consumers today connect with brands with a strong purpose that resonates with them, while making a positive impact in the world. The year 2022 was a year of promise and discoveries for the marketing and advertising community, especially after two pandemic-impacted years. From AI and hybrid working modes to a greater focus on brand purpose, marketers and advertising leaders recap the big trends and achievements that shaped the industry this year. Metaverse is a new channel that has made its way into mainstream media. In an era when brands are looking for new, engaging ways to communicate with consumers, the metaverse presents itself as an innovative way to do so. This year, we had brands from diverse industries such as fashion, lifestyle, auto and more build their presence on the metaverse. Aside from leveraging the virtual space to create unique shopping experiences, a slew of marketing campaigns, product launches and live brand-sponsored events were conducted in the metaverse. The innovative marketing potential of this hybrid digital / physical world is near-endless. While the market of metaverse is still at a nascent stage in India, it is likely to dominate the digital space in the years to come. Whether it is to analyse consumers to better understand their behaviour and create more personalised experiences, or to drive engagement, AI is changing the way we understand marketing. It holds great promise and potential for advertisers to make their marketing more effective. While e-commerce brands have been using this strategy for a while to suggest products to consumers based on factors like purchase history, the tool has been leveraged a great deal this year to personalise messaging. Brands have created digital avatars of their brand ambassadors and sent personalised messages from the celebrity to their target audiences.  AI is completely transforming consumer engagement and is definitely the new wave in marketing. Adaptability will remain the most sustainable skill for survival. Success stories of 108 unicorns in our country, need not be retold. Besides Fintech, Edtech, foodtech and agritech, the start-up ecosystem around drone manufacturing & operation will be a huge success in 2023.

Disruptions lay down the path for new discoveries. The last couple of years disrupted our traditional work models, paving the way for new ways of working. We recast the perception of being a function that needs teams to always physically huddle together. As we have become familiar with hybrid modes, technology has played a big part in making it a success. It has allowed us to open up to a better balance across teams. What it also brings is the possibility of opening our doors to a larger talent pool. The other big shift has come in from the changing consumer behaviour and adoption of new formats for content consumption. The high cost of quality content now being monetised across multiple screens and the potential to engage cohorts in a targeted manner are opening up the option of media solutions being more specific and accountable. There will be bigger shifts and marketers will need to be on top of their game to match the pace.

The second half of 2022 hit us like a hurricane, with brands, people and partners returning to the game with renewed vigour, far beyond pre-Covid levels. Everyone was hungry for fortune we’ve had to let go of for the last two years.    

We are entering the age of fourth industrial revolution which represents a fundamental change in the way we live, work and relate to one another. It is a new chapter in human development, enabled by extraordinary technology advances commensurate with those of the first (agrarian to machine and process driven manufacturing), second (Technological Revolution, a phase of rapid scientific discovery, standardization, mass production and industrialization) and third (semiconductors, mainframe computing, personal computing, and the Internet—the digital revolution) industrial revolutions. These advances are merging the physical, digital and biological worlds in ways that create both huge promise and potential peril. The speed, breadth and depth of this revolution is forcing us to rethink how countries develop, how organisations create value and even what it means to be human. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is about more than just technology-driven change; it is an opportunity to help everyone, including leaders, policy-makers and people from all income groups and nations, to harness converging technologies in order to create an inclusive, human-centred future. The real opportunity is to look beyond technology, and find ways to give the greatest number of people the ability to positively impact their families, organisations and communities. Robotics is the key driver behind the industry 4.0. It ushers into the phase of smart manufacturing which can be defined as fully integrated, collaborative manufacturing systems that respond in real time to meet changing demands and conditions in the factory, in the supply network, and in customer needs. 

Our entrepreneurs have world level capabilities in technology, financial strength and innovation and there is no doubt that in next decade they will rock the world.                  

Vinod Johri: Retd Additional Commissioner of Income Tax, Delhi

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