Post Your Comment
Letter From The Editor: Why We Need To Celebrate Exits
We've got to create a more enabling environment for more first-time entrepreneurs to emerge
Kishore Biyani can sometimes get overly aggressive in betting on the future. He’s also prone to occasional flights of fancy—and to top it all, often fails
to pass the test on execution.
But in my book, he has one trait that perhaps overrides all his other flaws: He is an original thinker. Or else, he wouldn’t have succeeded in creating a $2.5 billion enterprise from scratch in about 15 years. During this period, I’ve watched him from the sidelines as he fought against all odds to create retail businesses based on astute insights about the lives of millions of Indians.
First generation entrepreneurs like him are rare in this country. They bring a compelling view of local opportunities in India that tends to get missed in a dominant Western world-view.
Even today, a sizeable majority of the Forbes India Rich List is dominated by inheritors, many of them from the old industrial families. If you believe, as we do at Forbes India, in the democratisation of business, we’ve got to create a more enabling environment for more firsttime entrepreneurs to emerge.
But there’s one thing that we’ve got to learn from the West: There’s no shame in selling out, if someone is willing to pay good value for it. As Indians, we still get a bit queasy about giving up any asset that we own. Yet, this process of creative destruction lies at the core of entrepreneurship and free markets. And it’s time we looked at it as a natural process of renewal and prepare ourselves for it.
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. So, please remember to share your feedback.
Best,
Indrajit Gupta
Editor, Forbes India
Email: indrajit.gupta@network18online.com
Twitter id: @indrajitgupta
(This story appears in the 22 June, 2012 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
Comments 1
-
S.SrinivasanWe in India sometimes tend to be harsh and judgemental on our entrepreneurs. We mock them when they fail even as we secretely admire their guts and their risk-taking ability. An exit need not be a bad thing. It often means personal growth for the entrepreneur. He or she may find new inspiration in a different business or even philanthropy. Even if a businessman is selling out because he isn't able to manage the scale, is exhausted or is fleeing a failing business, we must thank him. For, he isn't practicing hubris and clinging on to a business that has clearly outgrown him, but placing it in better hands that can protect the jobs and the economic value of that business.
on Jun 9, 2012
