Professor, with purpose & Entrepreneurship, the buzz

Woww... thats just the fuel I wanted to brighten up the ignited.

I would start with thanking NIRMAAN/ CEL group for such an initiative (E-Week: Entrepreneurship Week), kicking off the fest with Mr. Sunil Handa's guest lecture. Sunil Handa is worth addressing to the core, as a professor with purpose. He talked about various issues of entrepreneurship, which we generally realize prior to his mention. But his words are too focused & knows the right way of imparting knowledge to the student. Examples given were heart touching & then the mind for entrepreneurial analysis. The motivation & positive opportunism, he has is just awesome. Forgetting about the economic melt down, listening to his speech will ignite the entrepreneurial spark in the students. Over it, recession of this kind is the right time for entrepreneurship and to be an employer rather than being an employee. Humour has been persisting in the lecture, so made none asleep, which is generally a sign of an interesting lecture :P. 

Impressive Examples:

Examples included his students' stories, which with persistent confidence in self, hard work and vision ended as successful ones. (More in his book: Stay Hungry Stay Foolish)

To show that persistent motivation has to be present, he took up this example.

His student in 1994 (from Handa's second batch), had the idea of a start up for manufacturing NEEM pesticide. And so took all the valuable suggestions. He in 1999 came back to this professor with a problem of customers (cotton growing farmers) not paying him the cost of the pesticide immediately. With a suitable marketing plan, he extended his idea to buy a sugar plant in AP. He shifted the entire infrastructure from AP to his base factory and improved the efficiency of the plant and so ended up in a profit of just more than 1700 crores.

Of course, it took him 7 years to see a feasibility of profit in the company and 10 years to see in such large numbers, but he proved Where there is a will, there is a way, coming from a poor family. 

Similarly examples of courage are given. We came to know that Bravery is not "Not having courage", but it is having the readiness to drive yourself to overcome courage.

Continued to talk on Social Entrepreneurship:

Best of all is the example of his own involvement in forming ADR (Association for Democratic Reforms, India), which is a team of 3 other IIM professors with him. ADR is the one, which filed a Public Interest Case, aiming at opening up the profiles of Criminal nominees of Politics. (Just to mention  even Govt Class IV jobs are not in reach of a person with a case on him, but he is eligible to become Chief Minister of a state !? How the.... !!!!! )

ADR's request: Compulsory mentioning of the court cases in the nomination application, so can be open to the public, how many murder cases, rape cases and others are filed against a particular nominee, helping the voter to judge.

ADR won the case in Supreme Court and immediately observed, the then Prime Minister sending a bill to Dr. Abdul Kalam, the then President, ruling out the statement (ADR's initiative) from Supreme court. ADR requested Kalam not to sign the bill, considering public interest. Then it is the first time in the INDIAN History, the President rejected a bill. Within next 48 hours, bill was again sent to the President from the then government, saying the Parliament re-thought about the same and so asking him to sign it. Constitution guides the President from not dodging for the second time.

ADR went on to persuade the Supreme Court that the act is unconstitutional and ended in success. So legally sending orders to list out the present running cases in the court against the respective nominees, which can be seen as THE UNIQUE INITIATION WE WANT TO KICK OFF THE CRIMINALS from our respected POLITICAL SYSTEM, the back bone of DEMOCRACY IN INDIA.

To be frank, I was thinking in similar lines (in ref. to my previous post) about such a reform in Political Nominations before it actually came. Now, I am happy to hear that there is an order of such kind from the Judicial system of India. Fortunate to be so close to one of the persons, with such heights of social responsibility. 

Every single student of all 260 students attended, loved the session, motivated themselves and I wish more will turn up for the second session tomorrow at 1.45 pm of his.

Waiting for an opportunity to talk to him face to face. If this is the quality of the professors at IIM Ahmadabad, I proudly endorse the lead role of IIMs in the country. This is the best of all the lectures, with my foot print.

Points of humour;

His asking the students in the back bench to come front without using a mic,

His snatching of a mobile phone from another guest of honour when it rang in the middle, 

His way of explaining how he is afraid of Chemistry (fear for COOH :) ) 

His language,

His body language are all a part of encouraging students' senses to be on their feet.

Points of interest:

 Read his book, Stay Hungry Stay Foolish

 Read Oberoi's Autobiography --Likho is the name of the book I suppose

 Read Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid - By C.K Prahlad

HATs OFF