Cover story: GREEN

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

4

Entrepreneur of the month– ANAND

MAHINDRA

8

An interview with

ADITYA BAGREE 11

Inside this issue

EDITORIAL

The „Green Market‟ is poised to reach $2.74 trillion by 2020. The

business ideas that are coming up are as unique as the entrepre-

neurs. Be it Pallavi and Prachi with their cardboard toys or T.S.

Shankker with his Biotec Bags, the entrepreneurs are going green

with their business models and happily so. Going green not only

gives sustainable and eco-friendly products and services but also,

provides both the entrepreneur and the buyers with a sense of re-

sponsibility to the environment. Our cover story “Green Entrepre-

neurship” gives you a clear idea on the topic and the benefits of

venturing into this potentially lucrative market..

This issue also covers the rise of Anand Mahindra to become the

Entrepreneur of the Year 2013. He is chosen for this eminent

honor because of the way he has led his company, The Mahindra

Group from a $1.35 billion company to an astonishing $16.2 bil-

lion group now, a 10-fold growth in 10 years.

--

Pathfinder E-Cell Team

ISSUE 2, VOLUME 2

COVER STORY-GREEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

ENSPIRE

Page 3

GOING GREEN

GREEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Page 4

COVER STORY

We have heard of Green

Tea, Green House, Green

Revolution but now what is

this Green Entrepreneur-

ship? In order to understand

this, let‟s break it up.

Green: We associate the

word green with a product

a process or a service that

benefits the environment or

reduces the negative impact

of other products on the

environment.

Entrepreneur: An entre-

preneur is a visionary who

is willing to launch a new

venture and is willing to

take the full responsibility

for the success or the fail-

ure of this venture.

So taking these two words

in mind we can safely say

that Green Entrepreneur is

a visionary who starts a

new venture to produce

products and services that

are beneficial to the envi-

ronment or products and

services that will reduce the

harmful effects of other

products in the environ-

ment.

Simple green entrepreneurs

are those exceptional indi-

viduals who dream up and

take responsibility for an inno-

vative and untested idea for

positive social change, and usher

that idea from dream to reality.

Why go into Green business?

Providing eco-friendly

and sustainable products and

services give small businesses a

competitive advantage.

According to a recent survey

nearly 4 out of 5 of small ven-

tures, offering green products

and services, get a competitive

advantage over their rivals.

Also, 3 out of 4 say that despite

the economic downturn sales of

green products and services have

increased over the years. Busi-

nesses that show greater com-

mitment to green services and

practises report higher sales.

Not only the small or medium

enterprises but also, the big

firms benefit from practicing

green by practising z their image

in the mind of consumers and

people in general. Also, it gives

their CSR a boost and earns

them some brownie points.

How can an entrepreneur be

green?

A green entrepreneur can be ei-

ther making his business “green”

or simply entering a “green busi-

ness”. In other words, green en-

trepreneurship could be defined

in terms of the technology used

for production in any sector of

the economy.

Much of Green Entrepreneur-

ship is about trying to solve a

traditional problem differently.

For example:

How to reduce the emission

rates of vehicles?

How to save the environment

from the menace of non bio de-

gradable plastic products?

How can we produce consider-

able amount of energy without

polluting the environment?

How can we reduce the use of

fossil fuels by creating an alter-

nate fuel?

These are few of the questions

that a Green Entrepreneur pon-

ders over and tries to get a solu-

tion to them by introducing a

new product or service.

Green Entrepreneurship In

India :

In Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu,

Wind Turbines whirl in a low

humming sound to generate al-

ternative energy; in order to pro-

vide raw organic matter for

ethanol Jatropha farms have

By Rahul Ghosh

ENSPIRE

Volume 2, Issue 2

sprung up in the barren arid

lands of Rajasthan; In Pune ,

Maharashtra , a business of

nearly Rs 1000 crore annual

revenue is successfully oper-

ating from machinery that

converts sugar cane into

fuel; eco-tourism that recy-

cles waste and measures

your ecological impact is

proving a big draw in Ker-

ala, the latest solar technolo-

gies in Noida are getting a

major boost by a sponsor-

ship of Rs 1500 crores by a

firm. All these are just a few

examples of green entrepre-

neurial ventures successfully

operating or just starting op-

erations in our country.

Thus, we can very safely say

that Green Entrepreneurship

is coming of age in India.

And it‟s not only the risk

taking business men who are

venturing into these greener

pastures. Banks, venture

capitalists, sundry investors

are all showing interest in

putting their money in green

entrepreneurial ventures.

From UTI Ventures in Ban-

galore to Aviva Insurance

and Rabobank in Mumbai,

the list of green investors is

long and there is no dearth

of funding.

FEW GREEN ENTREPRE-

NEURESHIP VENTURES IN

INDIA

Natural Khadi:

MINC retail store, Bangalore

Propreitor:

Mini Varkey Shibu, 46

“KHADINOMICS” that‟s the

word Mini believes in whole

heartedly. Along with husband

Kochery C. Shibu, who works

with a hydraulics company in Hi-

machal Pradesh, Mini, an NID

graduate, started her first retail

store for eco-friendly fashion

clothing in December 2007 in

Bangalore. The store is called

MINC, short for 'mini' couture.

The main idea behind MINC was

t o

make eco friendly clothing popu-

lar among youngsters and make

them aware of the rich heritage of

India in Fabric.

No compromise on quality

All the fabric used in Mini's store

is organic and sourced from tri-

bals of Dharmapuri district in

Tamil Nadu. Chemical fertilizers

are a strict no-no. Hand spun cot-

ton, vegetable dyes and ammonia

free colors are used strictly by

her.

Mini found her initial plan of

stocking only khadi products to

be economically unviable so, she

decided to opt for all natural fab-

rics including silk and cotton and

they produce nearly 800 pieces a

month now.

Page 5

COVER STORY

ENSPIRE

Volume 2, Issue 2

It's all in the bag

Biotec Bags, Chennai

Proprietor: T.S. Shankker, 46

Plastic Bags are very useful,

very convenient and very eas-

ily available at a very low

price. They are flexible and

can carry 100 times their own

weight but they are non bio

degradable. They cannot be

destroyed and even if it is de-

stroyed they leave toxic resi-

dues. We all know the harmful

effect of plastic bags on the

environment, we fret over it

but we continue using it. But

T.S. Shankker, unlike us, de-

cided to do something about it.

He, along with friends Ravi

Iyer and K N Lakshmanan

made an investment of 1 crore

in 2010 to set up Biotech

Bags. Biotech Bags produces

bio degradable plastic bags

which cost Rs 200 per kg and

are coated with food-grade en-

zyme that helps the bags to

decay about 90 % in just 180

days.

Revolution on two wheels:

Go GreenBOV, Bangalore

Proprietor:

Dhivik Reddy, 29

They say “like father, like son

“! When father, Ashok Reddy

introduced Landi conversion kits

to turn petrol and diesel into liq-

uefied petrol gas, it set off a pas-

sion in son Dhivik Reddy to

contribute to the environment

too. With the limited availability

of fossil fuels and other non re-

newable resources in the world

and with the rising concern

about global warming Dhivik

had a foresight that electric vehi-

cles are the “it” things of the fu-

ture.

Under their company ACTD

Electronics & Electricals, the

Reddys formed GO Green BOV

(battery operated vehicle) in

2007 to manufacture 2 wheelers

that run on battery and not on

fuel. These bikes do not have

any smoke emission as there is

no fuel combustion and they are

priced affordably between Rs

28000 and Rs 48000. On a full

charge the bikes will run for 120

kms. Also spreading their green

initiative further every biker of

GO Green BOV is encouraged to

plant a sapling.

Business on the rise

The demand for Go Green BOVs

rose from 750 units in 2010-2011

to 13000 units in 2012-13 and

this has encouraged the Reddys to

expand the business further.

Apart from 96 dealers in south

India, Go Green has received in-

quiries from Brazil, Philippines,

Australia and East European na-

tions for its electric vehicles.

COVER STORY

Page 6 ENSPIRE

Volume 2, Issue 2

Toy story

Chalk and Chuckles, Delhi

Proprietor:

Pallavi Agarwal, 35 and

Prachi Agarwal, 30

What happened when 2 sis-

ters; one running an event

management company and

another a Psychology gradu-

ate from Harvard Univer-

sity , decided to start a green

entrepreneurial venture by

making eco friendly toys??

Chalk and Chuckles was

born.

Pallavi Agarwal and Prachi

Agarwal formed a company

Chalk and Chuckles that

makes eco friendly interac-

tive toys for chikdren of all

age groups. But the main

differentiating factor is their

toys are not made of plastic,

they are made of cardboard. All

ink used in the games is soya-

bean-based and the paints are

water soluble which means no

turpentine is used to thin them.

The paper comes from forests

that are sustainable so the card-

COVER STORY

Page 7

board is FSC certified. Cardboards

are sourced from Germany and

Netherlands. Local papers cost

around Rs 26 a sheet while im-

ported ones cost around Rs 40 a

sheet.

Price to pay:

Because of the higher cost of pro-

duction Chalk and Chuckles toys

are priced 20 % higher than the

market average but this hasn‟t

hampered growth as there is a 20-

30% month on month growth. The

Agarwal sisters plan to expand

their range of toys from 14 toys to

40 toys. Chalk and Chuckles retail

not only in India but they have set

shop in Australia and South East

Asia

ENSPIRE

Volume 2, Issue 2

Post his MBA in 1981, Anand

Mahindra came back to India and

joined Mahindra Ugine Steel

Company as an Executive Assis-

tant to the Finance Director. He

became the President of this

group in 1989 and from there he

expanded the company by diver-

sifying into other sectors such as

real estate development and hos-

pitality. In 1991, he was made

the Deputy MD of Mahindra &

Mahindra Group. Today, Mahin-

dra and Mahindra is India‟s lead-

ANAND MAHINDRA, Chair-

man& Managing Director-

Mahindra & Mahindra

In a glittering event at Mum-

bai‟s Trident hotel, Forbes In-

dia presented Anand Mahindra,

Chairman and Managing Direc-

tor of the $16.2 billion Mahin-

dra Group, with an Entrepre-

neur for The Year award for

2013.The Entrepreneur for the

Year award, the flagship award

of Forbes India, was staged to

Anand by yet another inspiring

industrialist and an Indian en-

trepreneur, Adi Godrej, Chair-

man of Godrej Group. Anand

Mahindra is chosen for this

eminent honour because of the

way he has led his company

from a $1.35 billion company

to an astonishing $16.2 billion

group now, a 10-fold growth in

10 years. The company is no

more a centralised conglomer-

ate but a federated structure.

Born in Mumbai on 1st May,

1955 to Late Harish Mahindra

and Indira Mahindra, Anand

Mahindra belongs to a fa-

mous business family. In

1977, Anand graduated with

a degree in film and photog-

raphy from Harvard College,

Cambridge, Massachusetts

and then in 1981, he fin-

ished his Masters in Busi-

ness Administration from

Harvard Business School,

Boston, Massachusetts. He

got married to Anuradha

Mahindra, who is the Editor

of the magazines 'Verve' and

'Man's World' and the Editor

-in-Chief of Rolling Stone,

India

ENTREPRENEUR OF THE MONTH – Anand Mahindra

ENSPIRE Page 8

“To me, the peaks and troughs seem to

flatten out. They seem not like highs

and lows, but like the warp and weft in

a weave,’’

Early Life

Career

By Vasudha Sharma

Volume 2, Issue 2

grown through its Greenfield

business development as well

as its acquisitions such as

Ssangyong Motors, Reva

Electric Car Company.

Anand Mahindra is the Co-

founder of the Harvard Busi-

ness School Association of

India. He has been the Presi-

dent of the Confederation of

ing producer of off-road vehicles

and also, the largest tractor-

maker in the world by volume.

Anand Mahindra took the re-

sponsibility of the Managing

Director of Mahindra group in

1997 and finally became the

Vice Chairman in 2003. Anand

was also a Co-Promoter of Ko-

tak Mahindra Finance Ltd. and

in 2003, he transformed it into a

bank named Kotak Mahindra

Bank, one of the leading banks

in the private sector. Under An-

and's management in year

2002, the Mahindra & Mahin-

dra (M&M) Group introduced

an indigenously developed

Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV),

the Scorpio, which helped

M&M create a global identity

for itself. The company has

Page 9

Timeline

1955: Born in Mumbai, Maharashtra

1981: Returned to India and joined Mahindra Ugine Steel Company (MUSCO) as an Executive Assistant to the Finance Director

1989: Became the President of MUSCO

1991: Became the Deputy Managing Director of the Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) Group

1997: Became the Managing Director of the Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) Group

2003: Became the Vice-Chairman of the Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) Group

2004: Knight of the Order of Merit by the President of the French Republic

2005: Person of the Year from Auto Monitor & Leadership Award from the American India Foundation.

2006: Awarded with CNBC Asia Business Leader Award and Entrepreneur of the Year Award by the Ludhiana Management Association.

2007: Received the Inspiring Corporate Leader of the Year Award from NDTV Profit.

2013: Awarded Entrepreneur of The Year by Forbes India

ENSPIRE

Volume 2, Issue 2

his educational background in

arts nurtured a mindset of

creativity, innovation and a

constant questioning of his

own direction in life and to

him, these are the qualities

that are essential for the path

of entrepreneurship he is cho-

sen to follow, successfully

without a doubt.

Indian Industry (CII) in year

2003-2004 and has also served

as a President of Automotive

Research Association of India

(ARAI). Mr. Anand is also the

Co-Chairperson of the World

Economic Forum, Davos and the

Director of the National Stock

Exchange of India Limited un-

der Public Representatives cate-

gory. He is the Chairman of the

National Safety Council of India

and the Founder Chairman of

the Mumbai Festival, the first

inclusive festival in 2005 to

celebrate the rich cultural diver-

sity of Maharashtra.

Anand Mahindra has been con-

ferred with various awards from

the industry. He received the

Rajiv Gandhi Award for his out-

standing contributions to the

business field and in 2004, was

honoured as the Knight of the

Order of Merit by the President

of the French Republic. In year

2005, he was awarded the Per-

son of the Year award from

Auto Monitor and not to forget,

the Leadership Award from the

American India Foundation for

his CSR contributions. In 2006,

the Ludhiana Management As-

sociation presented him with the

Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

In 2007, he became the Most

Inspiring Corporate Leader of

the Year, honour given to him

by NDTV Profit. He has been

announced as the Business

Leader of the Year (2008-09)

by the Economic Times

Awards. And, this year, just

few days back, Forbes India

presented him with the Entre-

preneur of The Year award,

2013.

Mahindra Rise, the new brand

logo of Mahindra, changed in

2012, reflects a new strategy

according to Anand. It drives

unlimited creativity and alter-

nate thinking, and hence, a

drive to bring a positive

change. Mahindra believes that

Page 10

Ideology and Implementation

Awards and Accolades

ENSPIRE

Volume 2, Issue 2

“Entrepreneurship has no

age limits or boundaries”

What better way to justify

this than Mr. Aditya Ba-

gree!

Aditya Bagree ,a simple

guy in his late twenties

with an impeccable vision

and passion runs a consult-

ing firm called Business

Aggregate. Born in a con-

servative joint Marwari

family, business was some-

thing he had been exposed

to, from a nascent stage.

Observing his father in

their family business and

helping his uncles in clos-

ing transactions at the end

of the day gave Aditya the

much needed impetus to

start something of his own.

By the age of 18 years

Aditya was acquainted with

most of the clients and

processes of his family

business.

He understood that to efficiently

conduct business and manage it

like a corporate firm some key

skills and resources were essen-

tial. Hence, Aditya decided to

pursue a Bachelors degree in

Law from the Government law

College, Mumbai. Along with

law, Aditya completed his de-

gree in Masters of Commerce

(M.Com). After completing his

law and M.Com, Aditya decided

to pursue Chartered Accoun-

tancy.

Chartered Accountancy, one of

the most well respected profes-

sions was always dreaded by

youngsters due to its high failure

rate, but with focus and determi-

nation Aditya managed to com-

plete his CA in the very first at-

tempt itself.

CA gave Aditya the much

needed knowledge on the vari-

ous financial aspects of business

like capital structure, different

accounts maintained, taxation

etc. Law gave him knowledge

on the various laws under which

businesses have to operate, the

various legal structures etc.

Somewhere while pursuing his

CA course, Aditya realised he

needed something more to con-

duct business effectively. With

the law degree and the soon to

be coming CA degree, he would

have gained a sound knowledge

of law and finance but knowl-

edge on Operations, IT, Market-

ing, Human Resource was also

very critical. This realisation

made Aditya pursue the much

coveted degree of Masters of

Business Administration (MBA)

from one of Mumbai‟s leading

colleges Sydenham Institute of

Management Studies Research

and Entrepreneurship Education

(SIMSREE).

By the time he completed his

MBA, Aditya still did not have a

clear idea of what business he

would be in, but his experience

in family business led him to his

business idea. When asked

about his Eureka moment he

says, “I have always been taught

by my father, that the capacity

of a human is unlimited to do

anything and everything.”

He shares an incident, “In one

case, I was working with a stock

broking firm on equity "Block

Deal", in midst of the deal came

the requirement for the firm to

“The capacity of a human is

unlimited to do anything and

everything.”

Page 11

An interview with ADITYA BAGREE – Founder of Business Aggregate

ENSPIRE

Volume 2, Issue 2

By Rhea Punjabi

have a sophisticated web-

site and an e-portal of

stocks, which was again

arranged by me through

my sources. At the end of

the deal the CEO even

asked me if I could recom-

mend someone who

could join his deal team,

which again got success-

fully completed.”

“What started as a Finan-

cial Deal went on to en-

compass an IT, Marketing

and HR Deal. Thus came

the idea of having a total

business solutions com-

pany which could provide

services in all the seg-

ments: Finance, IT, HR,

Legal, Marketing and

Management”

Currently, Aditya is work-

ing for one of the largest

shipping building compa-

nies in Dubai called GMS

Private Ltd (it‟s a company

with an annual turnover of

USD 1 Billion) and also

manages his firm Business

Aggregate. He has 7 years

of broad experience in

various financial roles and

relevant experience to

source, execute and con-

clude deals in Primary and

Secondary Financial Mar-

kets. His specialities in-

clude: Private Equity, In-

vestment Banking and Treasury

functions. Aditya has worked

with some of the best companies

in the financial services Industry

like HDFC Bank which is the

largest private sector bank in In-

dia and with Dhyan Stock Brok-

ing

He firmly believes that “Man is

born with limitless powers. If

you wish and work towards

it, you can bat like Sachin Ten-

dulkar and dance like Michael

Jackson at the same time”. His

self -belief combined with pas-

sion and perseverance has helped

him attain success in the field of

consulting at a very young age.

About Business Aggregate:

Business aggregate is a provider

of comprehensive business solu-

tions to cater to all business

needs and requirements. The

firm provides professional ser-

vice by combining industry ex-

pertise with innovative technol-

ogy to deliver information criti-

cal to decision makers in all ar-

eas including Finance, Market-

ing, Legal, Information Technol-

ogy, Human Resources and

Management. The company was

incorporated in the year 2010.

When we asked him about the

mission and vision of Business

Aggregate, we were impressed

and already inspired! He says,

“What Wal-Mart is for Prod-

ucts, Business Aggregate aims

to be for Services.”

Major operations for the busi-

ness are conducted from an of-

fice at Charni Road in Mumbai.

Aditya has recently opened a

new office in the financial capi-

tal of the world, London.

This vividly explains how

Aditya plans to become the Wal-

Mart of business solution ser-

vices!

What sets Business Aggregate

apart?

When we asked him how was

his venture different from that of

his competitors, this is what the

young entrepreneur had to say,

“Unlike other such firms, we

provide business solutions under

almost all the possible functions.

So a customer need not go to

different companies for different

requirement just like a customer

goes to a modern day shopping

mall for almost all his entertain-

ment requirements (shopping,

clubbing, movies, theatres, cer-

tain sports, etc.).” His innate

ability to explain things through

analogy left all of us amazed.

At such an early stage, Aditya

has managed to get accounts of

the finest financial services com-

pany in India.His vast clientele

boasts of Royal Bank of Scot-

land, Reliance Capital Ltd, L &

Page 12 ENSPIRE

Volume 2, Issue 2

“When faced with a situation

of "Either or" go for "And".

Most importantly, when it

comes to making decisions

from the heart or head, follow

T Finance, Dhyan Stock Broking

Pvt. Ltd etc

Strategies deployed for the

start-up:

A major constraint entrepreneurs

often cite is availability of Fi-

nance. Capital to run the busi-

ness smoothly is of utmost im-

portance. Several start-ups in the

past have shut down due to is-

sues in gathering funds. Avail-

ability of adequate capital at the

onset of business is a wishful

situation however, presence of

finances is essential since a lot of

expenses a business incurs is in

its early stages. Adequate capital

further propels the organization

from the introduction to growth

phase.

For Aditya this was fairly sim-

ple, he used his personal savings

to start up Business Aggregate.

His stint with various companies

helped Aditya to accumulate the

necessary funds required for his

start up.

Aditya did not resort to borrow-

ing from his family, in fact he

was completely against borrow-

ing from family, and he would

have preferred taking a bank

loan instead. This is because he

felt why should he risk his fam-

ily savings?

At the onset of business, several

uncertainties surround the entre-

preneur in terms of business suc-

cess or failure, and Aditya was

no different. Hence, he decided

to himself earn and deploy his

earnings into business

Entrepreneurs after getting

funded are often caught up in the

race to deliver superior value so

as to attain break even at the ear-

liest. Concerns of other entrepre-

neurs were slowly building up as

Aditya‟s strength.

When asked the year in which he

attained Break even, he says”

One of the best things of being

in this business was never to

worry of the break even. First

deal and we did break even of all

the office costs etc.”

Ask this young entrepreneur

about his future plans and he en-

thusiastically says, “Newer ge-

ographies are already being

worked upon. Our firm caters to

clients from USA to Australia

and we have already com-

pleted few deals with them.

However, focus is more on up-

coming rather than developed

economies. Bangladesh is the

single highest contributor to the

firm‟s revenues. I am looking

forward to take up the venture

full time within a year or so.”

Sitting by a fully lit Queens

necklace on a full moon night

and gazing at the ocean the

words echoed, “When faced with

a situation of "Either or" go for

"And".

“I did it almost all my life so far.

When I was asked to chose be-

tween CA and MBA, I chose

both.

When I was asked to chose be-

tween LLB and M. Com, I chose

both. When I was asked to chose

between Job and Business, I

chose both - I run Business Ag-

gregate also and am also in-

volved in giving my full time

services to the biggest shipping

company of the world .

When I was asked to chose be-

tween staying at India or

Abroad, I chose both - I stay at

Dubai for about 6 - 8 months

and balance at India and keep

making frequent trip.

Most importantly, when it comes

to making decisions from the

heart or head, follow your heart

but use your head!”

ENSPIRE Page 13

Volume 2, Issue 2

Editor:

Vihangi, Shikha Mehta

Design:

Apoorva Gupta

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