Three words for entrepreneurs - P. N. Vasudevan, CEO, Equitas

• Dream, passion, and commitment – these are the three most important words for wannabe entrepreneurs, according to P. N. Vasudevan, CEO, EquitasDream – You must have a dream of what you want to do.
• Passion – You must want to do something. You must really want to do something desperately.
• Commitment – You must be committed to it completely. It must be your life. You must enjoy it. It should not be a job. That should be what you wanted to do, and what you want in life.

If you have these, I think, mostly you will find everything will fall in line to support you. People, money, resource – everything, generally, finds you if you are so confident and sure of what you really want to do exactly in your life.

Vasudevan

Promoter and MD of Equitas Micro Finance India P Ltd, based out of Chennai, Vasudevan was earlier the executive vice president and head - consumer banking group in Development Credit Bank Ltd, Mumbai, where he was responsible for the retail banking including retail liabilities, branch banking, retail assets and alternate channels and managing a branch network of 72 branches. “During this period CASA (current account savings account) balances grew by 35% compared to industry growth of 19%. In retail assets, many new products such as commercial vehicle financing, construction equipment financing, home equity, etc., were launched. The monthly disbursement in retail assets grew from Rs 20 crore per month to about Rs 150 crore per month,” informs the company site. “Earlier to this, Vasudevan worked in Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Co Ltd, part of the Murugappa Group, for 20 years, based out of Chennai. He joined as management trainee in 1986 and resigned as vice president and business head, heading all their business lines. He was also the chairman of the South India Hire Purchase Association for the year 2005-06.”

Equitas

A few facts, gleaned from the latest newsletter of the company are in the accompanying chart. The company has been written about in a HBR case study titled, ‘Equitas Microfinance: The Fastest-Growing MFI on the Planet‘.