Mumbai: Bangalore-based Sameer Shisodia, 37, who co-founded mobile search engine firm Ziva Software in 2005 and exited from it four years later, is today the co-founder of hospitality chain Linger Leisure.
G.S. Bhalla, 39, of New Delhi, founded a distribution company in 1996 and followed it up with a business process outsourcing (BPO) firm in 2000. Now he runs yoghurt chain Cocoberry.
Exploring spaces: Sameer Shisodia, co-founder of hospitality chain Linger Leisure, plans to set up 15 retreats in two years. Photo: Aniruddha Chowdhury/MintAnd Mumbai-based Binoy Khimji runs an investment banking business and two engineering firms after he sold another engineering company last year that his father had founded 25 years ago. Shisodia, Bhalla and Khimji are a new breed of serial entrepreneurs. It has been a well-established trend in the information technology world for entrepreneurs to start afresh after tasting success in one venture, and that’s now spilling over to other business segments as well.
Raman Roy, who started Spectramind, has founded Quatrro Global Services Pvt. Ltd; Rajesh Jain sold IndiaWorld, a collection of India-centric websites, and started Netcore Solutions Pvt. Ltd; and Samir Bodas, former president and chief executive of Aztecsoft Ltd, co-founded Icertis Inc. after Aztecsoft was acquired by MindTree Ltd. Ashok Soota, co-founder of MindTree, has started Happiest Minds.
“I know that it is never easy to build a company from scratch, but I am an entrepreneur at heart and I am ready to do it all over again,” said 35-year-old Khimji. The financial freedom he got from selling BDK Engineering to Weir Group Plc. last year, for an undisclosed sum, gave him the comfort to follow his heart.
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G S Bhalla, the man behind health food chain Cocoberry talks about his love for entrepreneurship and the state of entrepreneurship in India.
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For Shisodia, the idea of starting a hospitality business emerged from his own “urban life” fatigue. After exiting from Ziva, he built a home in Coorg. A couple of friends came for a stay over once. Enthused by their feedback that most working couples would seek such weekend breaks, Shisodia set to work on a business plan.
Today, he has two retreats, one each in Coorg and Chikmagalur in Karnataka. “These are ‘do nothing’ vacations,” he said.
Shisodia, who has been working on a profit-sharing basis with the owners of the properties, plans to set up 15 such retreats in two years.
Entrepreneurial bug
For many, it’s the case of the much-touted “entrepreneurial bug” at work. For Tushar Jani, 57, who sold express transportation company Blue Dart Express Ltd to DHL Express (Singapore) Pte Ltd, taking a break is not an option when the country is brimming with business opportunities.
“I want to be remembered like Bollywood actor Dev Anand and not as a retired person. When you know the business and have the capability to execute it, why not use that to propel your economy?” he asked.
After selling Blue Dart in 2004, Jani started three firms in the logistics space—Cargo Service Centre India Pvt. Ltd (air cargo business with airline company KLM), Transmart (India) Pvt. Ltd (warehousing) and Swift Freight India Pvt. Ltd (freight forwarding). The deal fetched Rs 734 crore, but it is not known how much Jani, one of the three promoters, got.
Investors in his three companies are pooling in more money to expand businesses. Experts say Indian entrepreneurs are also reaping the benefit of the value they created in their businesses as there has been a steady rise in multinational corporations’ (MNCs) interest to buy them. Global MNCs are keenly eyeing small domestic companies to enhance or mark their footprints here.
“MNCs are facing challenges of growth on their home turf as there are no fresh avenues for revenues or growth. India is a market that is growing at 20%,” said Preet Mohan Singh, executive director and head, industrials group, Avendus Capital Pvt. Ltd.
The list of Indian firms taken over by MNCs this year includes Luminous Power Technologies Ltd (by Schneider Electric), Devidayal (Sales) Ltd (by Arysta LifeScience Corp.) and Hightemp Furnaces Ltd (by Dowa Thermotech).
For Bhalla, starting a new venture is a function of opportunities in that space. At different points in life, preferences change as does the outlook for each business, he said.
Bhalla started a trading and distribution company in 1996 and then a BPO called Horizon Group in 2000. Both businesses are now being managed by professionals hand-picked by Bhalla. “The idea is to create value in business. Once a team and a system are in place, it’s time for me to look at something new.”
Bhalla wants to make Cocoberry the world’s largest wellness food chain.
New ball game
What is the motivation for an entrepreneur to take the plunge in starting something new all over again? After all, a new venture is always fraught with risks and one can misread the market. Even a moderately successful entrepreneur can’t work anywhere else, says Deepak Srinath, director of Bangalore-based boutique investment bank Viedea Capital Advisors Pvt. Ltd. It becomes a natural instinct for these people to create something new, take it to the next level. “After a successful exit, the risk-taking ability of these people goes up. The thrill is in creating something new and making a success out of it. It’s no longer about money,” Srinath said.
“Experienced entrepreneurs always do a better job. It’s good for the overall economy as companies get created, new job opportunities come up.”
Mohanjit Jolly, managing director, DFJ India, a venture capital fund that has invested both in India and the US, said the Indian market is beginning to see a Silicon Valley kind of ecosystem. “We will see a lot more of such serial entrepreneurs. What would be interesting to see would be if people who did not succeed in their first venture come back and take the plunge again,” he said.
Sanjay Anandaram, an entrepreneur-turned-investor, who also mentors start-ups, says there is a visible increase in the number of serial entrepreneurs. However, India has still a long way to go before creating a Silicon Valley kind of support for entrepreneurs. “Silicon Valley was built in 50 years, it didn’t happen overnight,” he said.
What we are missing in India is a robust exit scenario, he said, adding that mergers and acquisitions of young companies are not as strong as they are in Silicon Valley. “The fact that small start-ups can be bought for tens of millions of dollars has not happened here. Nor have young companies gone public,” Anandaram said.
The niceties and ecosystem of Silicon Valley are difficult to replicate anywhere in the world, according to Jolly. In India, jugaad works, which means that you leverage what exists and not long for what is not available, he said. “In absolute terms, we are nowhere close to Silicon Valley; but in relative terms, we have an ecosystem building up which includes angels, incubators, mentors, accelerators.”
deepti.c@livemint.com
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