INDIA: Finding Opportunities Within.

Since my engineering days, entrepreneurship has been a topic that always remained close to my heart. Somehow, the whole idea of starting up on your own, identifying the opportunities within a problem and effectively running a business out of it, excites many of us. And as we live most of our lives in the metropolitans, there is significant exposure to a variety of entrepreneurs and startups from across the city with which we interact, share our experiences and enrich our learning curve.

However, travel sixty kilometers across the city limits and you will be tossed into a completely new world. The rural face of the country – it’s always very close to the city, just a couple of hours of a drive away from hi-tech Bandra-Kurla Complex, and you’ll find lush green villages, beautiful forts and deep valleys. Amongst these mountains and valleys lie numerous dotted villages, randomly scattered groups of tribes and rural populace whose life is entirely contrasting from ours. Their problems are simpler, their needs, limited. But that does not stop them from being creative, or coming up with splendid solutions to their day to day life issues. I particularly remember one time when I had been on a trek to Kalsubai, in Sahyadris. I happened to meet one such inspiring fellow, who was actually running multiple businesses in a small tiny village at the base of the mountain! Completely taken by surprised, I was shown the various needs he was attending to, such as adventure camping (providing tents to trekkers like us, at reasonable costs – Rs. 200/- per night for a four men’s tent, is a dirt cheap deal. And exciting too!), besides cultivating honey farms along terraced slopes of the mountain. He was utilizing the demographics of the area to favor his business. And he was indeed doing well, with enthusiasm in thinking of other opportunities.

Today, my friend Mr. Sachin Kadam suggested me to view this video on TED by Dr. Anil Gupta. And when I saw it, I could hold myself no more. I had to write this article in a small tribute to create more awareness about this section of our society; which if you observe by statistics, is the larger chunk of India’s population. And yet, it chooses to reside on a low key only with a few exemplary individuals utilizing their resources to create awareness. As an organization committed to fostering entrepreneurship, I sincerely feel we need to honestly start examining the opportunities within our rustic lands. And I’ll show you some numbers which might inspire you.

(Source - U.S Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/ipc/prod/ib-9701.pdf)

There you go. Those numbers simply work down to one word. Opportunities. While the larger chunk of our population remains rural, we pre- dominantly focus on the issues and concerns of the urban societies. Now, I can perhaps understand if large organizations turn a blind eye in this area with reasons such as sustainability and margins; but I feel that it provides an excellent opportunity for younger startups to breed their innovative ideas in this sandbox, rather than competing amongst their urban peers’. There are several facilitating factors to consider such an approach:

• People in the rural are not demanding when it comes to brands. If you have a product/service that meets their needs, they will come to you.
• Their problems are simple, and so are their needs.
• Word of mouth publicity works fantastically in here. Go check it out sometime, if you still haven’t. It can do wonders for your business, if you have a product/service focused for them.
• As a general view, rural people are sincere, honest and hardworking. They have a strong desire to do well, and equally sharp is their creativity. One can learn quite a lesson or two, from them.

On a concluder note, I would urge all of you passionate entrepreneurs and opportunists to think about your hometown, at times. If you haven’t been there in a long time, or if you don’t have one, go and get a ride over the week end. We have illustrating examples of fine individuals like Dr. Harish Hande (see Selco), a social entrepreneur with an excellent education background (graduation from IIT, Masters and PhD from University of Massachusetts, Lowell in Energy engineering) who came back to literally ‘enlighten’ the villages. Or take the example of our banker from South India, Mr. J. S Parthiban; who penetrates the remotest villages to assist villagers in opening savings accounts and financing their own needs. (See banking on change).

India’s opportunities lie within. And they are enormous. So entrepreneurs, go ahead. Find your opportunities beyond.