Sometimes, kids don’t want to continue their family business. And that can be a really good thing
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| Anurag Batra |
Last week I was in Gurgaon, the city I grew up in and spent the first 28 plus years of my life, living with my parents.
As a kid, I enjoyed going to this chaat shop with my parents. According to me, it was the best chaat outlet in the world. The last I went there in late 2010, it was being managed by the same Jain sahib whom I have been seeing for more than 30 years and who was approaching 90 s now.
I admire the consistency and agility of this entrepreneur. As a kid, sometimes if we acted naughty, he would reprimand us. I was so fond of this food outlet that last year I took friends from my business school MDI to the chaat shop, and they loved it too. It felt like a landmark, and made me nostalgic about my childhood, my sister and my parents.
But last week when I went there, instead of the shop at this prime location in Gurgaon I found a very upmarket garment and fashion store.
Jain’s grandson had started this new enterprise. I asked myself why the grandson had opted to give up a good family business. It made me think about the larger issue of why scions of families choose not to enter the businesses their dad and family were in, and start on their own a different line of business .
Soon after, I met another entrepreneur from Mumbai who has a large plastics business which his son does not want to follow. The question came back to haunt me. I tried logical reasoning, and told myself that the environment and milieu had changed. In the times gone by, opportunities were very few. Today there are so many new age businesses. Every young adult wants to do something unique which will have his imprint.
I think this trend of the younger lot wanting to start their own business must be welcomed, as it helps them get the satisfaction of creating something that is their own. It also tells me that they are happy not to be in a comfort zone created by their dad. They wish to experiment, experience and evolve in their business the way their father did and they wish to enjoy the journey of creation.
They sometimes might like the wealth their dad created, but the business of, say textiles, or plastics, may not interest them. A knowledge intensive and creative domain might be their calling—and why not ?
I remember the song from the movie LION KING called “Circle of Life” and let me share those ever true , everlasting lyrics that TIM RICE wrote:
"From the day we arrive on the planet
And blinking, step into the sun
There’s more to be seen than can ever be seen
More to do than can ever be done
Some say eat or be eaten, Some say live and let live
But all are agreed as they join the stampede
You should never take more than you give
In the circle of life
It’s the wheel of fortune, It’s the leap of faith
It’s the band of hope, Till we find our place
On the path unwinding, In the circle, the circle of life
Some of us fall by the wayside
And some of us soar to the stars
And some of us sail through our troubles
And some have to live with the scars
There’s far too much to take in here
More to find than can ever be found
But the sun rolling high through the sapphire sky
Keeps great and small on the endless round"
These words apply to the creation of an enterprise also and should be welcomed.
I am reminded of a famous quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “A creation of importance can only be produced when its author isolates himself, it is a child of solitude.”
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Anurag Batra is real life, first-generation entrepreneur who is Much Below Average (MBA) from the prestigious Management Development Institute, MDI. Anurag is the founder and editor-in-chief of exchange4media group which includes exchange4media.com.
To write to the author, please send an email to dare@cybermedia.co.in with the subject line ‘Anurag Batra’.
The views expressed here are that
of the author and do not represent
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