Tiding over rough times; Day 1 at the TiE Entrepreneurial Summit

Day one at the TiE Entrepreneurial Summit 2012 proved to be a knowledge sharing experience with some truly actionable takeaways

While bringing forth the idea of ‘dancing in the rain’, the two-day TiE Entrepreneurial Summit 2012 kicked off in Mumbai on December 20. The ‘Mahakumbh for Entrepreneurs’ brought together over 1000 participants from different fields on Day 1. Also present were luminaries from the marketing fraternity to deliberate over the quintessential factor around consumer growth, leadership, communication and market penetration, including rural markets, through a series of panel discussions and presentations.

India is driven by crisis in market, pointed out Sunil Kant Munjal, Joint MD, Hero MotoCorp, while speaking at the panel discussion on the topic ‘Opportunities in Tough Times’. “All the major changes in India have taken place after a crisis. We do act, but do it brilliantly,” he said, adding that during the 2008 crisis, instead of cutting back the company set out to build a plant at Haridwar. “It’s a little bit of anticipation, guts and craziness — a combination which are not the usual,” he added.

Similarly, Harsh C Mariwala, CMD, Marico, underlined the need to think positively in a downturn as it offered great opportunity to stand out. “Growth is the biggest oxygen. It excites all stakeholders, including customers,” he said. Giving example of how the company chose to go to volatile markets such as Bangladesh about 10 years ago, this initiative has paid them back. “In turmoil there is opportunity. It’s about encashing in on the chaos,” he said.

Stressing on the fact that India has come a long way since it opened up its market in 1991, Richard Rekhy, CEO-India, KPMG, pointed out that the country has jumped an entire age of evolution when it comes to growth. “A fine example is the growth in mobile telephony where we have side-stepped an entire generation. We should be doers. Ideally, the change starts with an individual.”

Among the speakers, there were also those who believed in a league of their own. Vivek Prabhakar, co-founder, Chumbak, exhorted to say not to perfection as he believed it’s a myth and doesn’t exist. Similarly, Jaydeep Barman, CEO, Faasos, stressed on the need to think out of the box and break norms. He said that his company preferred to hire people for entrepreneurship rather than their vast experience in any particular field.

“Rural aspirations are equivalent to any city dweller today,” said Pradeep Lokhande, founder, Rural Relations, while speaking at a plenary on consumer macro view. In a similar vein, Harish Bijoor, CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults, said that a rural buyer is rustic and has a mindset of their own. “Consumers in rural market have a recall value of a particular brand based on colour. There are four-five brands that continue to thrive in rural market and enjoy high loyalty.”