10 powerful quotes by Sunil Bharti Mittal that will inspire and motivate entrepreneurs
Sunil Mittal is the Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, India’s second-largest integrated telecom company in customer base with more than 400 million customers, with operations in 18 countries across Asia and Africa.
Sunil Bharti Mittal is an Indian billionaire entrepreneur, philanthropist, and the founder and chairman of , the third-largest mobile operator in the world in subscriber base, with presence in 18 countries.
Son of a politician from Punjab, Sunil Mittal is a first-generation entrepreneur who started Bharti Enterprises in 1976 at the age of 18. He started the company with an initial investment of Rs 20,000 that he borrowed from his father, and started manufacturing bicycles, before diversifying into other sectors. He entered the telecommunications industry in 1995.
Today, Bharti Enterprises is India’s second-largest integrated telecom company in customer base with over 400 million customers across Asia and Africa.
Over the years, Sunil Mittal has won a number of awards and recognition. In 2007, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian honour. And in 2016, he was elected as the Chairman of International Chamber of Commerce.
A self-made billionaire, Sunil’s net worth is estimated to be $9.7 billion as of March 12, 2020, according to Forbes.
Sunil also owns Airtel Payments Bank, a niche bank which has 9.8 million active users as of September, 2019, in a joint venture with Kotak Mahindra Bank, which is controlled by billionaire Uday Kotak. Sunil’s son Kavin Bharti Mittal runs SoftBank-backed messaging service , which is valued at $1.5 billion.
Here are some powerful quotes from the telecom tycoon to encourage aspiring and upcoming entrepreneurs.
“All entrepreneurs make decisions. Some will go right, and some will not go that right.”
“You can choose to be very profitable very quickly if you don't want to grow.”
"If you are caught between speed and perfection, choose speed. Perfection will follow."
“You never wait for perfect positioning, because in business you don't have the time; especially if you're small, you can't do it.”
"For me, relationship is very important. I can lose money, but I cannot lose a relationship. The test is, at the end of a conversation or a negotiation, both must smile."
"One of the theories that I'd built around my entrepreneurship was to do things that have not been done before."
“Technology is something we buy to sell to the customers. Ericsson, Nokia, and IBM do technology for a living, so let's give it to them because they know best. It has made the business model of Bharti very, very sustainable.”
“My first venture was to trade bicycle parts and hosiery yarn. The initial days proved to be difficult, and I earned very little from my business. But I kept at it. Each day, when I retired for the night, I told myself that money would come in the next day.”
“I realised very early on that you need to tie up with some large entities - much, much larger than yourself.”
“All competitors are fierce competitors; Vodafone is the world’s second largest company. We fight it each day. Idea Cellular is big and successful too. Competition is competition; we are used to it.”
(Edited by Megha Reddy)