NextWealth Entrepreneurs, whose vision is social uplift through entrepreneurship, has been co-founded by Dr Mitta who has nearly four decades of experience in information technology R&D and related businesses in India and the United States. He joined Wipro at its inception in 1980 and served as its chief technology officer
and head of global R&D. He played a critical role in helping Wipro achieve technology leadership—the company became the highest valued company in India during his tenure.
How ripe is the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country today? How can it be bolstered further?
The entrepreneurial ecosystem in India is reasonably mature. For example, funding should not be a problem for deserving entrepreneurs with good business plans. We have angel investors, venture capitalists and private equity investors who can invest at different stages from half a million dollars to several hundred million dollars. However, we are yet to see substantial value-add from investors in terms of mentoring, business strategies and marketing.
We also need to evangelize entrepreneurship at an early age so that young people can start thinking in terms of creating jobs rather than taking jobs. Here again, we see organizations like The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) and the National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) doing a commendable job. Some of the premier management and engineering institutions like IITs, IIMs and IISc have started incubation centers, business plan competitions and seed investments.
Recently, Peoples Education Society (PES) Institutions in Bangalore started a center for entrepreneurship with amazing results.
How important are failures in the life of an entrepreneur?
As all of us know that failure is a stepping stone for success. This is valid more so for entrepreneurs. In the Silicon Valley, there is premium for those entrepreneurs who failed earlier compared to those who are attempting for the first time! Good entrepreneurs will learn how not to do things from such failures. In India, people tend to blacklist entrepreneurs who failed in their first attempt. But we expect that in near future, earlier failures will not deter investors.
Can entrepreneurship be taught?
Several traits of an entrepreneur, like the ability to take calculated risks, build a team, willingness to work hard against all odds, staying focused etc are more natural. One can be taught about things like tools required to manage, metrics to measure performance, business plan development and proper alignment between market and technology. But, Investor of the Month is no replacement for a good and experienced mentor.
Is the age of technology startups over or they are just getting overshadowed by those in other sectors?
Technology is a key element of many startups. Even service startups have to use technology to move up the value chain and can't merely depend on wage arbitrage forever.
Today, technology products or technology itself are offered as services. So, it is less likely that technology startups will be overshadowed by others. Earlier, technology startups were primarily in the area of
information technology. However, currently we are witnessing ventures coming up in diverse segments like alternate energy sources, nanotechnology applied to commercial applications etc.
How important is social entrepreneurship for a country like ours? How good is the 'for-profit' model vis-a-vis the 'non-profit' model?
Normally, non-governmental organizations (NGO's) and 'non-profits' try to do good. They are committed to a cause and driven by social objectives. But, they are dependent on grants and find it difficult to scale. Donors find NGOs and non-profits less accountable.
On the other hand, corporate organizations and 'for-profits' try to do well. They are committed to the business and are driven by profit objectives. They are self-sustaining and emphasize on scalability. They are accountable to investors, customers, government and other stakeholders.
Social entrepreneurship blends in an equal percentage of social intent to do good to meet societal needs and do well by remaining commercially viable like any business. The idea of social entrepreneurship is gaining momentum globally and in India too. Time has come for all businesses to look at profit and social good as compatible, rather than conflicting, characteristics of modern businesses.
| NextWealth: The entrepreneurial route to social upliftment
NextWealth Entrepreneurs started with a simple vision of social upliftment through entrepreneurship. It is built as a social entrepreneurship venture that blends social intent with commercial acumen. It operates in the ITO/BPO industry space. To achieve its objectives, NextWealth has developed an innovative strategic model, a highly distributed delivery model that draws upon groundswell of graduates and entrepreneurs in non-metros and rural areas. At the same time, the model ushers in a great social value proposition. NextWealth’s model envisages a large number of small centers (each having 200-250 graduates) located in non-metros in India more akin to the Internet or cloud model of computing. Business model Local entrepreneurs will provide a multiplier effect in enhancing values of the social and economic ecosystem in non-metros where NextWealth centers are located. A typical center achieves cash breakeven in 12 to 18 months and profits thereafter. NextWealth takes an equity stake in the centers to demonstrate its commitment to customers and entrepreneurs. NextWealth takes the responsibility of bringing together the right combination of customers, projects, entrepreneurs and skills. They undertake customer acquisition activities and get services delivered from various centers by providing technology, training, process management etc. The ideal processes that lend themselves are based on a technology platform that enables automation and needs some amount of customization, personalization and human intervention. Internet content monetization and chat-based support are some of the examples. Vision By remaining closer to their homes, the employees will have a better quality of life. This may even promote reverse brain drain from metros to non-metros. Currently, there are three centers located at Mallasamudram, Tamil Nadu; Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh and Amargol, Karnataka. Over 200 graduates are currently employed, delivering several pilot projects in the last six months. These projects demonstrate that graduates from non-metros can deliver same or better quality services at substantially lower price points compared to metro centers. As told by: Anand Talwai, Co-founder & Executive Director, NextWealth Entrepreneurs |
Can you give one or two good examples of social entrepreneurship entities in India?
The Aravind Eye Care System at Madurai is a sterling example of social entrepreneurship. Founded in 1976 by Dr G Venkataswamy, with the mission to eliminate needless blindness, Aravind is the largest and most productive eye care facility in the world. Taking its compassionate services to the doorstep of rural India, Aravind's stunningly effective strategies vaulted barriers of distance, poverty and ignorance to create a self-sustaining system. Nearly 50 percent of patients are treated free and the rest pay nominal charges. Yet, Aravind is a profitable and growing venture without external doles. Over 2.5 million out patients were treated and over 300,000 surgeries were performed during the last financial year.
We have started NextWealth Entrepreneurs to provide decent jobs and careers to graduates from rural and non-metro areas to work close to home, with a business model that is scalable and self-sustaining.
Vimarsh Bajpai
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