Have a clear idea - A. M. Kanahamurthy, The Industrial Estate Manufacturers Association, Guindy
A veteran in the manufacturing industry is A. M. Kanahamurthy, Chairman of R. V. Centre for Entrepreneurial Development, and also Joint Secretary of the Industrial Estate Manufacturers Association, Guindy. He is a mentor in Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust, and he shares with YourStory his advice to entrepreneurs.
Ideas, finance
Please don’t be vague about your ideas. Have a clear idea – such as, this is the item I want to manufacture, this is my customer, and these are the machines I require.
Finance is important, but banks are now prepared to give you loans under the credit guarantee scheme without collateral. Previously, when we started industrial units, unless collateral was there bank was not prepared to give us the loan. Today, it is not so.
(Credit guarantee, here, refers to the Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Micro and Small Enterprises or CGMSE, covering both term loans and working capital facility up to Rs 100 lakh per borrowing unit, extended without any collateral security or third-party guarantee, to a new or existing micro and small enterprise.)
Banks are searching for the entrepreneurs. The entrepreneur should be with clear ideas – yes, this item I am going to manufacture, I have a technology, I have this customer, and the only thing I need is finance – and banks are prepared to lend. Don’t tell the bank, I don’t know what product to manufacture, you tell me.
Information power
Some people come and ask, ‘Can I manufacture paper cups and paper plates?’ That’s a good item but there is no technology. After all, it is conversion; even a person without education can do that. Why do you want to do this, I ask them.
Therefore, find out what is required; learn from your contacts what to do. Today’s entrepreneurs can benefit from an exposure to the many tools that are now available for obtaining information. Yet, people are prepared to go for a job rather than become an entrepreneur.
