Starting up just to make money is the wrong reason for start-ups, said panellists at IIMBue 2016 – summit hosted by the Alumni Association of IIM Bangalore. Participating in the panel discussion on ‘Un-Tabooing of Wealth’ by Kunal Shah, Founder & Chairman, FreeCharge; Aprameya Radhakrishna, Co-founder & CEO, TaxiForSure, and Karan Bhagat, (PGP 2001) MD & CEO, IIFLW, moderated by Shreyasi Singh, author of The Wealth Wallahs shared their experience as entrepreneurs.
“I started TaxiForSure to solve a problem. Because the focus was there we created a lot of value. India is at a very early stage in terms of start-ups although there are quite a few unicorns now,” said Aprameya, who later in the day led an extended networking session.
Taking risks
Urging entrepreneurs to create frameworks of wealth, Kunal Shah said: “The joy of creating wealth and multiplying existing wealth cannot be the same. Moreover, if you do over analysis, you will never be able to take risks. A sense of preservation in entrepreneurs will slow down the wealth creation process.”
Karan Bhagat in his presentation pointed out that wealth creators of newer generation look at things more actively, whereas the older generation tends to focus on wealth managing and preservation. “The new generation of wealth creators are happy to take risks and invest in start-ups; they are more clued in.”
IIMBue 2016 concluded with a panel discussion on ‘Integrating the entrepreneur and investor view on disruption’, featuring Shivakumar Ganesan, Co-founder, Exotel; Arunachalam Murugananthan, Social Entrepreneur; and Sharad Sharma of iSPIRT.
Sports administration
Earlier in the day, Javagal Srinath, former India cricketer and ICC official, speaking on ‘Leadership in the sports landscape’ said “As a professional sportsperson, one has worked hard to build a reputation and when you get into sports administration, it’s that very reputation that takes the first hit.”
Srinath stressed the need for transparency and probity in sports administration in India.Narrating his experience as former secretary of Karnataka State Cricket Association, he explained what inspired him to take up administration. “As a player, you travel around the world and see the infrastructure, the transparency and the facilities out there and you want the same for your country. I pondered if I could make a difference — that was my mission.”
Explaining how corporatising sport could help change the landscape of sports administration, Srinath said: “Sports in India is still not a profession. We don’t have a great structure because sports associations involve elections at every stage and elections usually spell trouble!”
Opining that the corporate world and start-ups could make investments in the nation’s future to support sports, especially at the grassroots, he pointed out that the opportunities today are many.
“Fitness as an industry can be an option. The path forward is to get involved not only in terms of branding but in many other creative ways.”
Source: The Hindu Business Line
