According to the schemes/proposals mentioned under each would be treated as components of the Umbrella Scheme. The advantages of such an approach are manifold. There would be flexibility of utilization of funds under each Umbrella Scheme. Funds can be transferred to components which are doing well from those experiencing tardy implementation.

The implementation of different components would be cost-effective and time saving since the inter-linkages between different components can be addressed simultaneously. For example, the land procurement and construction of building relating to setting up of CFCs, Testing Labs, Flatted Factory Complexes, Modular Industrial Estates, Tool Rooms/TDCs etc. can be addressed simultaneously under the Umbrella Scheme on Infrastructure whenever the land and building under different components are planned in the same place. The greatest advantage of implementation of Umbrella Scheme is the visibility of impact of implementation of such Schemes

The working group has also come up with the following recommendation:
Finance
• Operationalization of SME exchanges for enabling access to Equity Finance.

Technology

• Scheme for acquisition and up-gradation of technology.

Infrastructure

• Developing clusters of excellence.

• Setting up of 100 Tool Rooms and PPDCs.

Marketing

• Procurement policy for Goods/services from MSEs by the Government Deptts. and Central PSUs.

• B2B International portal.

• Enabling global footprints of MSMEs.

• Leveraging Defence Offset Policies in favour of MSMEs.

Skill Development

• Revamped Skill Development & Capacity Building Programme.

• Encouraging young/ first generation entrepreneurs by upscaling  PMEGP and other programmes.

Institutional Structure

• Strengthening of Institutions – MSME-DIs, EDIs and KVI Institutions.

• Application of E-tools in promotional and regulatory matters for facilitating easy entry.

• Real time Statistical and Policy Analysis through strengthening of Database.

The Working Group recommended focused efforts for time-bound implementation of the Game Changers.

Speaking  exclusively  to Entrepreneur, the Piramal Group chairman said that he is deploying a novel ‘String of Pearls’ strategy to finally achieve what no other Indian pharmaceutical company has been able to do.

“We are making small acquisitions across the world. These units can have drugs at some level of clinical research, some technology we may need, and perhaps even a team of scientists we covet,” he said.

The company will then combine the Indian advantage with these ‘pearls’, as Piramal calls them; the Indian advantage being over 400 scientists, and the necessary cost effective infrastructure to conduct clinical trials.

Piramal says that 10 percent of these 400 scientists have had successful experience in companies abroad in drug discovery, making them the adhesive that will hold the ‘pearls’ together.

While Piramal Healthcare is the primary unit looking out for acquisitions of ‘pearls,’ US-based IndUS Growth Partners would also play an important role towards this aim.

Led by serial entrepreneur and now Harvard professor Shikhar Ghosh, and armed with $2 billion in liquid capital, the firm would also scout for pharma units to buy across the globe.

Piramal disclosed that there has been considerable progress with this strategy already. The company’s lead molecule is in cancer, which is in Phase II of clinical trials and Piramal is pushing for Phase III now. There is also a device in the works for cartilage repair that his company is gearing up to launch this year.

Indian companies seeking to compete with the big guns of multinational pharma have to derisk their strategies since not all investments pay off. Most of them have thus focused on generics or new drug delivery systems (NDDS) – drugs that improve the therapeutic efficiency of an older drug – and not the discovery of NCEs, which are original chemical compounds with therapeutic value in treating a disease).Piramal is trying his luck with both NDDS and NCE.

NCE is the riskiest option of them all – and costly, too. But payoffs from a blockbuster NCE can run into billions of dollars in annual sales. From the time of the discovery of a promising NCE to final drug approval for human use, the process could take years. Many fail on the way. Hence the need to try several things simultaneously in the hope that one will come up trumps. Through his “string of pearls” strategy, Piramal is essentially buying many lottery tickets in the hope that one will hit the jackpot.

Radio Tuk Tuk: Gurgaon
Started a year ago, Radio Tuk Tuk is a radio auto rickshaw service in Gurgaon that was started by 26-year-old Sulabh Mehra, who earlier worked in the IT sector. Having consistently heard of his friends’ experiences with poor public transport connectivity, he invested money borrowed from his family members to set up the radio auto rickshaw service.
With a total investment of Rs.1.2 crore till date, Mehra began the company with 50 radio autos and the company now owns and operates 90 auto rickshaws in the area. “The bank had its doubts in the business idea before giving us the loan,” said Mehra. However the company is now in an expansion mode. “Most of the investments in setting up a call center etc. have been made and we are now looking at operating about 500 auto rickshaws in the coming year or two,” he said.
While no venture capital funds have come their way yet, Mehra says that there has been some interest from institutional investors, which he will tap once he begins to expand at a faster pace.
From his experience ,Mehra says that obtaining licenses and the passenger carrier permits from the administration was a smooth process. His biggest challenge lay elsewhere: Organizing the auto rickshaw drivers to provide quality service. Most drivers were not adequately educated or literate, so they failed to understand the functioning of the GPS systems and other technology installations that had been made in the auto rickshaws.
Most of the drivers are migrant workers, says Mehra, and are not available for work throughout the year. Strikes have also been regular.
While the service has generated some employment in the area and has been a relief for many residents of Gurgaon and for those who travel to Gurgaon for work, Mehra says that “it hasn’t been a cakewalk, and on some days it does feel like I was better off sitting in an MNC office.”

Ecocabs: Punjab
Ecocabs was started by in 2008 by IIT graduate Navdeep Asija, who is also an advisor to the Punjab government on public transport now, and Dr. Bhupinder Singh, a graduate from IIT Roorkee. The duo started out in their hometown Fazilka in Punjab, as a social organization. The organization now provides a dial-a-cycle rickshaw service in various cities of Punjab.
The organization was begun with 20 cycle rickshaws; the number has swelled to 500 cycle rickshaws today. The organization is not-for-profit, though Asija says that the model is such that it could be a profitable business venture if an entrepreneur so plans it. The money that Ecocabs makes goes into a bank that the rickshaw pullers benefit from.
The organization now operates in major cities of Punjab like Amritsar, Patiala and 18 others.
The money invested in starting the venture (Rs.2 lakh) came from the savings of the founders. Their expenses have mostly been incurred in training the rickshaw pullers and in providing them with mobile phone connections. The call centers are mostly local tea stalls which can be located via GPS. The organization now has an android application to help locate the closest call center. The organization also invested in a different design for the rickshaws. This has helped reduce the cost of the cycle rickshaws, making it easier for the rickshaw pullers to buy these.
“The biggest challenge in running such a show in Punjab is that someone who is not well-connected tends to get involved in issues with the police or faces opposition from local politicians. Politicians control segments like bus services privately, and do not want to cede opportunities to entrepreneurs,” says Asija.
However, the rickshaw service has been a tool to help improve tourism in the area, he adds. Most people are pleasantly surprised with the etiquette displayed by the rickshaw pullers, something the startup has trained them in.

Rickshawale: Mumbai
After quitting his job as the business head at Reliance Logistics in 2009, Hemant Jain decided to begin his own business. That kicked off in October this year with Rickshawale, a dial-an-auto rickshaw service in Mumbai.
The only thing Jain did was create an efficient system to organize existing auto rickshaw operators. Instead of buying auto rickshaws for the company, Jain went out to convince the drivers to become members of Rickshawale.
After three months of extensive efforts, he began with 300 members. The drivers own the rickshaws but Jain has installed a tracking system and set up a call center to help organize the availability of the rickshaws.
Customers call to be picked up from a certain address and for a nominal fee, the closest-located auto rickshaw driver is sent to the address. To cut costs of the technology installment in the autos, Jain used a GPRS-based system which was cheaper than installing GPS devices in the autos. He personally trained the rickshaw drivers on how to interact with customers and provide a reliable service. He avoided the hassle of taking a permit by not buying the vehicles.
“The problem with providing most public transport services is that it tends to be a very capital intensive business and often has high operational costs,” explains Jain. He has so far invested Rs.70 lakh in the business. “What keeps me going while operating in the public transport sector is the satisfaction I get out of serving people,” he adds.
The company plans to expand its operations into the taxi space as well this month. While some venture capitalists have shown interest in his business idea, he doesn’t need the funds just yet, says Jain.

Deciding factors
The opportunity present was the result of a handful of factors. Three decades ago primary care was delivered by the family doctor, a patient’s first point of contact. “The advantage he had over time is that he knew you and your family well, building a level of trust in the process,” he says. Today, from a professional standpoint, it’s gone out of fashion as doctors aspire to become specialists. A survey conducted by the founders saw that only two of 100 medical students said they would consider becoming a general physician, compared to one out of two in the U.K.
Then the financial angle came into play: general practitioners rely on their own clinics, and investment costs range from Rs.10 lakh-Rs.15 lakh, albeit with slow returns. “There’s a long waiting cycle till people adopt them, most doctors don’t earn even 5-10 percent for the first six-eight months,” he mentions. Plus, establishing yourself in this line takes a good three-five years. “General practitioners are seen as failures in society and within the medical community. Plus, they don’t have the time or support to keep abreast of the latest advancements. Organizing an unorganized sector was an opportunity,” explains the entrepreneur. The startup’s initial idea was to help other general practitioners provide better service and the founders began the venture on a virtual model. It involved a virtual doctor to keep patient records, consult them over the phone and coordinate specialists. “But we soon realized this model won’t work,” says Chattopadhyay.

A different business model
It didn’t take long to figure out a feasible business model. “We needed a personal physician attached to each patient,” says Chattopadhyay. From April-December 2010, the founders ran a proof of concept supported with angel funding, and spread the word through their personal and professional networks. It was not open to general public at that time. What started as a one-office set up with Rahman consulting patients on a membership basis, today runs on the back of three full-service clinics and four satellite clinics in Bengaluru, after raking in a second round of angel funding. In retrospect, the founders feel they lost seven-eight months running it from an office. “A retail business must start from the shop floor, not an office,” rues Chattopadhyay.
NationWide has also created a separate entity for paediatric care and entered into a strategic relation with Neo Natal Care Research Institute which gives them access to paediatricians. “Since the requirement here falls in evenings only, doctors don’t need to be on full-time roll,” he explains.

Potential opportunity
Raghuveer Tarra, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Sling Media, invested Rs.1 crore as a first angel on the back of its business model that addressed the need in primary healthcare services segment in India. “It was a no-brainer for me to be convinced about the potential opportunity,” says Tarra.

Model changes
The company has more differentiators. “We realized that patients are looking for convenience,” he explains. So, NationWide not only changed the model to clinics offering complete day-to-day medical requirements, but the initial practice of referring patients to diagnostic clinics for lab tests was done away with since customers weren’t happy with the level of service.
Instead it’s got its own laboratory as a blood collection unit from where it sends samples out to third party vendors. Patients can either sign up for annual membership plans, all of which are designed based on different customer needs (including home-visits in some plans) or can walk-in and pay on a per consultation basis.
“Revenue growth on a per clinic basis serving the needs of retail customers (B2C) and corporate customers (B2B) further strengthens their business model,” affirms Tarra.

Customer-speak
Aruna Sakhuja, a 68-year-old, lives and works alone in Bengaluru. After almost giving up her search for a general practitioner who could come home, she read about NationWide in a newspaper and signed up as a member in 2010, purely on faith. Sakhuja gave us positive feedback. “They are economically-priced and my mental satisfaction is much higher than the money paid,” she states.

New ideas
Though still not functioning on full capacity, each clinic will eventually comprise of four general practitioners, one paediatrician and two nurses. “We plan to have a pharmacy and will soon outsource it to a reputed player,” adds Chattopadhyay. On the professional side, NationWide has created job opportunities for general practitioners as full-time salaried staff. Unlike the West, general practice is not a well-established profession and India lags behind with necessary training too.
In countries like the U.S. and the U.K, general practitioners are required to undergo a residency program of at least three years which gives them a degree before they can practice. “This is where an organization like ours helps,” highlights Chattopadhyay. Every Tuesday, its clinics are shut and the time is used to train doctors for continuous medical update.

Recruitment policy
The firm’s recruitment strategy didn’t target fresh medical school graduates, but those returning to India with a minimum of two-five years’ work experience. Dr. Jaya Bajaj, Head, Medical Education and Training and practicing doctor at NationWide, is one such case. In January 2011, Bajaj moved back to India with her husband, after practicing in a community medical center in the U.S. She chanced upon Chattopadhyay’s profile on LinkedIn and was soon on the company’s payrolls. “We are well-paid here, the salary is competitive and we’re given performance bonuses too,” she says.

What the future holds
Bhupen Shah, COO and VP Engineering, Sling Media, angel investor since December 2010, feels the need for more senior management as the business scales up.
“Retail operational and marketing experience will further strengthen the executive team,” he says.
The challenges of a retail business in India, Chattopadhyay says, are primarily around rent to remuneration ratio. “Adoption will always lag behind expectation,” he says.
Nevertheless, heady on expanding, NationWide’s plans include 20 full service clinics in Bengaluru in the next 18 months. It also plans to enter the Gurgaon and Kolkata markets in 2012 and is in the process of negotiating with VCs to scale up the business.

Yesteryears
Soota belongs to a family of six siblings. His father was in the army, which gave him the privilege of growing up across the country. By age 12, he had gone to 12 schools. “I built a huge network at a young age and got a pulse of India as a whole,” recalls Soota, Executive Chairman, Happiest Minds. The foundation years helped him adapt to rapid change, and growing up surrounded by siblings gave him multiple mentors. Soota joined the University of Roorkee, the then premier institute in its field, to purse a degree in electronic engineering. He enjoyed a well-rounded life as a student, taking part in sports, external events, debating and theater.

First job and an MBA
After a brief stint at a company which he chooses to write off his career graph as blip, Soota joined DCM (Shriram Group of Industries) in 1965 for senior management training. In 1966 he was transferred to Usha Fans in Kolkata, a city which turned out to be a constant in his life, in the form of multiple postings in the years to come. He spent a large part of his career at the company, the then fifth-largest and premier firm in India, until 1984. “It had a great training scheme, and exposed me to multiple cultural experiences,” the soft-spoken Soota reminisces.
And life is also about luck, he believes. Whilst in the third year of his career, the company’s subsidiary in Sri Lanka had a position for an engineer, but one who could do more in the form of sales, procurement, marketing and labor functions. “When they looked at the profile of various people nobody fitted in like I did and there I landed in Sri Lanka, as the number three person in that entire firm,” he says. The role gave him a broad range of functions which Soota said he couldn’t even aspire to get in a larger set up back then. This was 1968-’70, when the nation was idyllic sans political turmoil. For all practical purposes he was commercial manager but in reality he was handling technical and front-end roles together. “The period was marked by fun and adventure, I can remember the name of every small town in Sri Lanka till date,” he laughs. Four years into his career, he was already part of top management of a small company. When he came back he went on to become Deputy General Manager and, finally, General Manager, Usha Fans, when he was just 33.
He continued to mark his space in the minds of the management to the extent where Chairman Charit Ram saw in the 36-year old the potential to turn around Shriram Refrigeration, a group company on the verge of bankruptcy. Soota was moved to Hyderabad in 1978 and eventually took the firm to a stage where it became a leader in each of its product lines. The cash position was tight, and therefore the only mantra was cash revival. R&D went into a lot of cost reduction and new methods of getting money back from customers were imbibed, including in voicing credit-day periods, separate repair centres to avoid attracting a particular tax, among others. The firm’s revenues before he left as CEO touched Rs.35 crore with 8-10 percent profitability.
During his 19-year career at Shriram, Soota took a break in 1970 to pursue an MBA at the Asian Institute of Management in Manila, Philippines, a careful choice made for a variety of reasons. “They had a pre-requisite of minimum three-four years of prior work experience and I didn’t want to end up in an institution with fresh engineering graduates as classmates,” he says.
“I feel you can learn a lot from your peers, plus I was looking for a different cultural experience,” Soota adds. The experience, he feels, gave him a conceptual background to what was in the end a managerial and not an engineering career.

Wipro and the move to IT
Interestingly, in his last year at Shriram, Soota was computerizing the firm and one company which had not been invited to bid was Wipro, because it wasn’t well-known. They were unprofitable and only two years into operations. IT was a sunrise industry and one that he did not know. Yet, the change was inevitable for Soota, and came about as a result of life’s many coincidences. After reviving Shriram’s refrigeration business, he decided to take a sabbatical and visited old friends from his Roorkee days. As luck would have it, his friend Anand Khokha knew of Azim Premji’s requirement at Wipro.
“It took me months before I agreed to meet Premji,” recalls Soota. On a Sunday when they met, Soota had gone with the mind-set to refuse the offer, but remembers the interview as a most rigorous one: over a 12-hour day, all meals and Campari, Soota’s drink of choice, included. “It was all part and process of knowing me better, because it was going to be an important decision for a fledgling IT business,” he says, impressed by Premji’s thoroughness.
Soota sensed things would plateau off in the manufacturing world and IT was an industry of the future, a large one at that, coupled with the challenge of doing something new. So he joined Wipro in 1984 as its president. “I had a natural inclination towards understanding IT,” he says. As for skepticism from employees, “They were open to change, because it was a sick company,” says Soota. Wipro’s revenue at Rs.7 crore in its second year of running was almost flat at first year levels.
Good timing has also played its part in Soota’s life. Ashok Narasimhan, Founding President, Wipro Infotech (computer business) and Wipro Systems (software business) had moved away, in his mind, to the software side of things which is why the computer business was stagnating. “I didn’t make an iota of change, it was the same team that went on to make Wipro’s computer business the number one firm,” says Soota.
The period also coincided with liberalization in the country. “It created a wave of growth which we could ride,” points out Soota. For him, too, this phase was a period of accelerated growth in a large organization. “It didn’t take us too long to overtake everyone except HCL, which we did ultimately later in 1993 to become the top computer firm,” he affirms.
For the first seven years he looked after computer business. As a company Wipro stood out because it was based on its own products and R&D which management could support in a closed environment. Under Soota’s leadership, the IT behemoth built its capabilities and introduced personal computers, entered into system engineering and expanded its range of offerings to customers with various services, something the rest of the software industry did later, we are told. “We added business verticals at a very early stage,” he notes. This went on till 1991.
In software business, its strategy was ahead of time for which the market wasn’t ready. Narasimhan had left and Wipro had a spate of CEOs who dabbled with different things. Premji soon assigned that business to Soota in 1991. “The timing was great with Infosys struggling to do its first IPO,” quips Soota.
The period from 1991-’99 saw a remarkable turnaround in Wipro system’s growth, what Soota refers to as the ‘second wave of growth’ as it overtook Infosys to become the number two software firm in 1998. “TCS was always way ahead,” he admits. The revenue run rate for Wipro as a whole was at $500 million (Rs.2,500 crore now), of which computer business was $270 million (Rs.1,350 crore now) and software business at $230 million (Rs.1,150 crore now).
Soota was getting itchy feet again and so handed over the mantle to Arun Thiagarajan who became Vice-Chairman. “My earlier roles were intra-preneurial, soon I saw several entrepreneurial opportunities outside,” he says.

Turning entrepreneur with MindTree
Soota had unfulfilled desires. One was to become an entrepreneur. “I decided I must act on it,” he says. “I was a late-stage entrepreneur, as I was waiting for the right opportunity, which was the internet bringing about new ways of doing things,” he adds. Also, encouraging him was the fact that several venture capitalists had sought Soota out about possible ventures. “People left the thought behind and so all things combined it was not a difficult decision to take,” he recalls.
The coming together of nine co-founders at MindTree, of which four were from Wipro, was serendipitous too. Soota was tight-lipped about his plans till he formally announced his exit at Wirpo and gave Premji six months to find a replacement. In the meanwhile, while negotiating with investors at Walden and GTV for funding of about $9.5 million (Rs 47.5 crore now) in cash, Soota was given an indication of ‘friends’ in talks with the same VCs. “I guessed Subroto’s name,” he quips. “The next morning Bagchi called and said we should do this together.”
Later on, he realized there were more from his Wipro team with them. “In 24 hours all co-founders were together and money there in principle,” he mentions.
“I went back to Premji and told him he was free to talk the rest from leaving Wipro,” he states.
MindTree started as an internet solutions company and later went on to add R&D. For the first eight years, Soota held the position of CEO and Managing Director, the one who integrated the organization. His first task was to come up with class values for the firm, finally defined as caring, learning, achieving, sharing and social responsibility. “I found the management and leadership styles were very different between co-founders. What somebody thought was a fair degree of leadership others saw as micro-management,” he says.
On the business side, running R&D was easy given it had been a core capability at Wipro, sans many players then. However, MindTree, we are told, never compared themselves with any other company but called itself an internet systems integrator and solutions provider. “We were much higher priced but could get away with it because demand was high and people didn’t care about costs,” he points out.

Surviving the dotcom bust
Circa 2000. Nobody had anticipated the dotcom bust and, in the bargain, hoards of companies collapsed. “We managed to survive it and went on to come out with an IPO,” he emphasizes. So, what did Soota do right to warrant survival? In retrospect, plenty.
“My decision to bring S. Janakiraman on board and start R&D services, just as the dotcom bust came.” The business was able to contribute and built as stable buffer for the organization, thereby preventing decline. He focused on developing a broader range of capabilities quickly so when markets would eventually open up they could benefit.
“That’s when the acquisitions came in, and we were quick to get a second round of funding. In case the downturn lasted, we had a buffer,” he explains. This time it came from Capital International, a private equity firm. The timing again had its share of luck, coming a week before 9/11.
“Maybe we would have joined the dust heap of other firms that collapsed, but we had wherewithal,” he exclaims. From 2002-’07, five years prior to going public, Soota said MindTree sustained ‘heady growth’ at 59 percent year-on-year. They went public when revenues stood at over Rs.700 crore.
Post IPO, media and industry speculations suggested a difference of opinion between the founders on the strategy for MindTree. Soota dismisses it to say, “You’ll never get another story of 10 co-founders who’ve been together for 11 years. There couldn’t have been a better, more integrated and harmonious team.” The post IPO years, for the IT services firm, had its golden moments and the Aztecsoft acquisition brought in a new product line: product engineering services on software side.
From 2008 onwards, Soota got out of day-to-day responsibilities and Krishnakumar Natarajan took over.  Soota became Executive Chairman, taking on a more directional and visionary role.
His function was focused on strategy, and new markets. These years also saw economic slowdown. MindTree was conscious not to make the mistake of over-expanding during boom-time of the internet.

Resigning to reboot
On January 28, 2011 Soota quit MindTree, albeit in a manner quite unique, by sending a letter to the media announcing his resignation and expressing his desire to start a new venture. “I think it was a good governance move and I took a step to say things upfront,” he states. There were things that made him unhappy, he said, which he calls an aberration, to make him take this decision because it was destiny.
“Whatever made me unhappy had been discussed with the board, they did what they could do; then I saw no point in dialogue and made up my mind,” he says. Plus, Soota did not want his exit to fan rumors of insider trading. “There was no simmering dispute, as people say, that is utter nonsense,” he says.
It wasn’t long before he made another announcement. His latest startup, Happiest Minds Technologies, an IT services firm, was announced on April 5, 2011 and finally began operations on August 29, 2011.
“It was a lonely start as I couldn’t talk to anyone about it during my notice period till March 31, 2011,” he says. Despite hundreds of e-mails enquiring about his exit and future plans, Soota held his guard.
The startup has 12 co-founders, a mix of people from his past ecosystem and an investment of Rs.225 crore from Intel Capital, Cannan Partners, Soota and other members of the founding team.
It made big talk of a ‘happiness philosophy’ around it and Soota says that he was on a path with a very definite goal.
“That goal I could fulfill in another environment,” he says. Then there were things he wanted to do differently, whether it is entry strategy or putting own learning into play. One of the hard differentiators for the firm is to optimize on disruptive technologies.
“If the internet can spawn dozens of companies, why is it that today, despite disruptive technologies, nobody has created new entities focusing on these?” asks Soota. To him they represent opportunities and new ways of doing things for customers, and building solutions.
The firm has chosen the five new technologies of cloud, mobility, social media, unified computing and analytics. “Each of these pose new security challenges and that is actually a differentiator of our business too,” he says.
Happiest Minds has a horizontal driving force, and Soota says that they don’t need to add any more vertical businesses.
Not willing to disclose his five-year vision, Soota mentions in clear terms that in seven years, they would want to go public. In another six months, Soota is looking to expand to Frankfurt and Singapore.
The firm has a long-term goal as a recognized player in its line of business.
Alongside, he hopes his plans of starting an NGO focused on environment and employability in slums near his farm takes off too.

Around 8,000 km from her home in outback Queensland, Australia-born Harrison traveled to India four years ago to head a six-month social welfare project in rural Tamil Nadu. The project involved living amongst the villagers and dealing with local NGOs.
Though she has traveled to a number of countries around the world and despite the cultural difference between India and Australia, Harrison claims that she felt a certain sense of homecoming when she visited India. “The warmth of the people here and their sense of humor is similar to what Australians have,” says Harrison. It wasn’t long before she decided that she would come back to settle down here.
After a short stint back in Australia for six months, Harrison moved to India in 2008. Having understood the opportunities in the larger social development sector in the country, Harrison decided to set up her company, Innovaid, working in this sphere.
Innovaid was started in 2008 in Mumbai to play an advisory role for companies who want to ensure that their philanthropic and CSR activities have a lasting impact on society.

Opportunity beckons
“There are many people who want to contribute to social development, are financially in a position to do so, but do not know how to go about it. After being exposed to a few corrupt NGOs, I realized that you could give your money to an NGO or donate money in the name of a social cause but there is no way to actually be involved in the process. So, you can never ensure that the resources actually reach the right people to bring about the expected results,” explains Harrison. She began by focusing on celebrities. “I realized that there are celebrities who contribute to a certain event here or there but there is no real focus to their activities,” she says.

Celebrity clientele
Harrison began her journey at Innovaid by bringing on the Steve Waugh Foundation as one of her first clients. Today her organization has amongst its clients Indian and Australian film personalities and sportsmen, including Brett Lee. Indian celebrities on her client list include Anupam Kher, Rahul Bose, Gul Panag, Abhinav Bindra, the Rajasthan Royals T20 cricket team and a member of one of India’s
royal families.
As far as companies are concerned, Harrison realized that while there were some which undertake philanthropic and CSR activities, there was a need to make the companies see the benefit in assisting social development to make the process sustainable. “NGOs speak a language that the corporate world doesn’t mostly understand and the corporates speak a language that the NGOs don’t get,” explains Harrison.

How it works
Innovaid works towards planning philanthropic and CSR activities for companies, ensuring that they get
lasting returns in terms of branding as well as improved employee satisfaction and retention.
Innovaid also helps celebrities set up and run foundations and also manages their philanthropic activities. The company also designs programs for existing foundations and helps develop campaigns for companies to help them get involved with an issue of social significance. After the celebrity identifies a social issue that he wishes to be involved with, Innovaid comes into the picture by identifying the most appropriate NGOs and institutions that the celebrity can work with.
The company then creates concepts that would add the celebrity value to the cause in an effective manner, while also ensuring that the celebrity is sufficiently and closely involved with the cause. Concepts and programs designed by Innovaid are in a range of segments like women’s issues and music therapy for Brett Lee’s foundation, Mewsic.
Client-speak
When Entrepreneur got in touch with the former Australian cricketer, Brett Lee was all praise for Innovaid. “I first met Harrison in India in 2008.  She was doing some work with the Steve Waugh Foundation which impressed me. We are like-minded people driven by the same passions: India, and making a difference to the lives of disadvantaged kids who live there,” says Lee.
He adds that Innovaid formulated a number of diverse programs which would make a lasting, sustainable difference in children’s lives. “We have four key areas of focus: Music for Healing, Music for Education, Music for Empowerment and Music for Advocacy. It is all about using music to heal emotional wounds and ignite that flame inside children, so they can rise above their current situation in life,” he says.
Lee has invested Rs.30 lakh in his foundation in India and its multiple programs. He is happy with the response to his programs, which he calls “fantastic.” Ask him if he will continue to let Innovaid run his foundation in India, and Lee says, “Yes. It is an association both parties value and I look at Innovaid as an extension of my company in Sydney.”
Reji Mathews, CEO, Thwack Sports, a sports goods manufacturing company, has been associated with Innovaid for the last four months.
Thwack, a company with Rs.60 crore turnover, wanted to invest a certain part of its earnings in setting up a foundation to help sports infrastructure and help people realize their potential through sports.
Harrison planned a set of programs for identifying sports talent in children who cannot afford sports training, and in spreading a culture of sports with Thwack. “I am happy with the strategy and planning. However, the programs only begin implementation this year,”
says Mathews.

Challenges faced
Harrison feels that her biggest challenges so far have not been the bureaucracy or finding the right people. “It has been a struggle to stay positive, face the challenges and find a support system in India,” she says.
Her start up costs weren’t too high. The only thing she invested in was a laptop and, a few months later, in hiring a few employees who were working out of her home in Mumbai.
Harrison has not looked for external funds yet since she is keen to retain her control over the organization.

Smooth run
Innovaid has made a turnover of Rs.1 crore and Harrison now plans to grow and expand the company on a much larger scale. “There is a whole list of celebrities and corporates I am yet to approach. So the scope seems immense,” she signs off.

New ball games
The ex-cricketer wears many hats today. A self-confessed “huge” Rolling Stones fan, he has attended over 180 live shows of the rockers and is fast friends with Mick Jagger. But this mild-mannered, pure vegetarian Gujarati gentleman who loves his music to be “hard and raunchy,” (“I hate slow numbers,” he recently told a fellow journalist) runs a tight ship as an entrepreneur. Organic Haus, which has just opened its Ahmedabad store, will soon venture into other markets, notably Mumbai and is also planning a shop-in-shop presence across India. It was in 1984 that this Rajkot-born, adopted son of Kolkata (where he lived and spent most of his playing days) founded Entrack in the U.K. where he had settled after retiring from the game. Then, in the mid 1990s (1994-’95), he set up operations in India. Few may know of this, but Entrack handles and represents more than 20 international brands in India. Some of the brands Entrack represents in India and abroad include Mont Blanc, Burberrys, Chirico watches and Canali. “I am a simple man and love the best things in life,” he laughs.

The organic route
So, what’s so great about his new venture and how different is this for an entrepreneur till now dealing purely with fashion and lifestyle brands? “This is lifestyle too, isn’t it,” he retorts. “Organic food is all about a healthy lifestyle. Also good living and good healthy food are my twin passions,” he reasons.
The world, he says, is going towards healthy food and people are now watching what they eat. It is the best time, says Doshi, to get into the organic food business, since the market potential is huge. So, Doshi and his team, including his daughter Visakha, spent the last two and a half years researching about organic food and lifestyle products, spending weeks in Germany (“where the organic food market is valued at Rs.27,000 crore, more than the organic food market of all other countries combined,” says Doshi) to finalize their plans for this new venture.
“I was really impressed by the way they produce organic food, the way the workers work, the manner in which the organic farmers are looked after and encouraged in Germany. No wonder their products are the best,” he says.
He then struck a series of agreements with several German organic food and lifestyle product manufactures such as Rapunzel (which makes organic chocolates, organic cereals, organic cooking oil that does not lose its good qualities even after cooking).
The products he has are also hugely varied. From organic tea, cereals, oil, chocolates, jam and other products, Organic Haus stores every kind of food you can imagine and the store is designed in w ay so that one can find things for breakfast, lunch and dinner in separate areas, one after the other. It also has various lifestyle products such as organic soaps and toiletries, organic weight-reducing packages and recipes and even has a live organic salad and pasta counter.
Doshi’s foray into the organic food market is fuelled mainly by the realization that it presents a fantastic business opportunity at a time when the whole world, including India, is waking up to the goodness of organic food and including organic products not just in their daily food intake but also in the other products they use, from soap and shampoo to slimming products and beauty treatments. “It is an irony of sorts that we gave the world organic food and now we are waking up to it again because the developed world has announced its good values. We lost an opportunity to be market leaders which we should have been for a thousand years,” says Doshi.
He is pragmatic yet passionate about his business. “You get into business in areas you are passionate about. That is why I went into the lifestyle business. Similarly, organic food is something I have always sworn by. In my house in London or in Rajkot you will always find organic food as far as possible. I am a pure vegetarian and I have always been very particular about my food,” he says.
But won’t the price points, which are substantially higher than processed products in the same categories, drive away a lot of buyers since cost of food is a major concern? “Organic products cost about 20 to 30 percent higher than non-organically produced products. But there is the health concern at the other end. Will you give up a chance to improve your health because of Rs.2,000 extra? And what about the medical bills that you incur after having processed food laden with chemical fertilizers?” he counters.

Family ties: Dilip Doshi with daughter Visakha

Organic farming
Doshi also points out that 70 percent of the world’s fields are used for animal grazing, which ultimately contributes to the world meat market. “Only 30 percent is used for farming vegetables and food grains. Of this, a mere 5-6 percent is used for organic farming. That also explains the high cost of such products,” he says.
Doshi says running an organic farm is no easy task. “You cannot just transform a normal farmland into an organic farm overnight and then make money. It takes five to seven years to detox a normal farm land to make it ready for organic farming, to take out all the fertilizers and chemicals that have become mixed with the soil. And then it needs a lot of care. So unless farmers are encouraged and backed by the government or big business houses, no farmer would feel encouraged to go into organic farming. What will they grow and how will they survive for those five to seven years?” he says.
Which is why, he says, Germany’s organic market is so large. “They planned it well, they showed enterprise, they could visualize the future. The government and the rural populace worked as one without interference from outsiders and middlemen. It is not that easy in India perhaps,” he admits.

Ahmedabad first
For now, though, Doshi’s focus is clear: open more Organic Haus stores, in Mumbai first and then maybe more in Gujarat, Maharashtra and other areas. “Ahmedabad is one of the most progressive cities in India. The infrastructure is good, people are health conscious and aware of global trends, and, very importantly, an overwhelming majority is vegetarian. And Organic Haus sells only vegetarian products. So we are bound to do well here. Mumbai is next,” he signs off.

E: How is VC funding different in the U.S. versus India? What does an entrepreneur need to secure funding?
AS: The VC industry is not that substantially different from other parts of the world, other than cultural norms which are different. Environment for success and growth, or efforts made by the government to encourage entrepreneurship, are different. In China, the government goes out of its way to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation in technology, by providing incubation centers, buildings and facilities.

E: Which sector will be the big game changer this decade? Where do you place your bets: mobility or consumer internet?
AS: In India, you are benefiting from a very high growth rate. India is going to experience 7-10 percent growth in the next seven-10 years and that provides a different growth opportunity for startup companies. Not like the U.S., where growth rates are not more than a couple of percentage. Criteria for investing in the U.S. will be different from what a startup company will do in India and China. We are investing in applications, devices, software and services and data centers. You cannot pick one and put all resources there, as they all move together. Without a wireless device or communication infrastructure, investing in data centers is meaningless as devices have to be connected. These all go together in the form of an ecosystem and have to be invested in and pushed forward at about the same speed. As far as mobility and consumer internet go, we are investing heavily in both and the potential for each is great.

E: What are the emerging opportunities for entrepreneurs in the tech space?
AS: In India, technology adaptation is at the low end of the scale. There are opportunities in data centers, communication and infrastructure. Education is big, because in India ultimately there are not going to be enough schools to house the growing youth population and it will all have to be done online.

E: You made your first investment in the healthcare sector this year in India. A late entry into this space?
AS: We have invested in this space in other parts of the world. Our focus is on connected devices and computing all over the world. Healthcare is going to be one of those applications that is part of the overall connected world.

E: You don’t have any investments in pharmaceutical, bio-technology or retail?
AS: Our latest investment Fashionandyou is, to some extent, in the retail space. We are unable to comment on or describe what our next investment will be. We announce it as it happens.

E: How has entrepreneurship changed in India?
AS: A lot of role models are now in India. Infosys was a role model in the technology space. The seven founders did extremely well and it is now a global enterprise and listed. That’s a fabulous example that other companies are looking to follow. India is a very entrepreneurial country, with people who are just as entrepreneurial, if not more, than in other parts of the world.

E: What do Indian businesses and/entrepreneurs lack?
AS: I don’t find them lacking in any respect. If anything, a startup entrepreneur faces more hurdles in India than any part of the world.

E: What is your investment strategy?
AS: We do a very vigorous due diligence. We are looking for financial viability of the company as well as strategic relevance to our ultimate goal. As any VC would, we look at the founders, capability, their understanding of the market, skills and background at being able to manage a startup. We look for a management team, founders who are capable and have the entrepreneurial drive to get things done. So, basically, the right set of skills. Plus an idea, which has a total available market, that is worth pursuing. If the market size is Rs.100 crore, then it is not worth it. Then we look at competition; if it’s already been tried out, it’s not very interesting.

E: In which regions do you see maximum entrepreneurial activity?
AS: We are investing aggressively in emerging countries. We have just started investing in Vietnam, South Africa and Turkey as well.
E: What advice do you give startups when acquiring customers?
AS: For startup companies, acquiring companies is the hardest thing to do. One of the things we do is help them with that. Offer a product tailored to meet the needs of functionality which is cost-saving. Large corporations are not looking for just a product but also good sales service.

[The author was on a sponsored trip to
Intel Capital Global Summit 2011 in California]