Doddamani

Verbal Ability for School students

2025-09-22T12:08:00.001+05:30

Verbal Ability (School level)

#School #VerbalAbility #VAT

Data Interpretation for School Children

2025-09-22T12:06:00.001+05:30

Data Interpretation for School Students

#ProjectAakalan #DataInterpretation

Logical Reasoning for School students

2025-09-22T12:03:00.001+05:30

Logical Reasoning for School Students

#LogicalReasoning #Reasoning #ProjectAakalan

Project Anubhav by Ashwamedh Foundation

2025-09-09T13:14:00.001+05:30

Project Anubhav by Ashwamedh Foundation

Project Co-ordinator Amit Yadav teaching to Students of Project Anubhav batch 2025-26

In the academic year 2024-25, I realized that Ashwamedh Foundation was relying too much on the Volunteers coming Virar-Nalasopara to Pelhar center AFKC of our NGO. During the rain the area almost turns into an island making inaccessible to outside volunteers. I myself suffered fractures in my left leg when I almost fell into the open pothole which becomes invisible under the turbid water when the waterlogging happens after contunious heavy rains. I was determined to create some local volunteers by training our own students under the 'human resources development' named Project Anubhav. I started first batch of Project Anubhav on 15th August 2024 with some 14 students. Most of them were in 9th Standard and 3 students were in 10th. I was determinded to complete the first syllabus in the month of November so that 10th Student can focus on their board exams. I kept all the major Topics in the first Semester and left the general topics for the second Semester. The objective of the Project Anubhav was very clear - Train and develop local volunteers and reduce our dependence on the visiting Volunteers. Also provide them opportunity to Volunteer with Ashwamedh Foundation, provide stipend for their teaching/volunteering work and help them in their personal development.

Impact of Project Anubhav:

1) Amit Yadav: Amit was Topper of Ashwamedh Foundation in the 2024-25 Batch. He was in the 9th std that time. I hesitated to involve him any Volunteering work in the beginning of 2025-26 as he is in 10th Std and I expect him to score more than 90% in this year. When the August month started, I decided to give him the most important task - to lead the Project Anubhav batch of 2025-26. Amit is doing excellent job so far. I am supporting him online by giving Mock Tests to students and some Assignments and Practicals etc. But Amit is the one who is leading from the front.

2) Sonam Yadav: I decided to give Scholarship to Sonam equivalent to her Fees of 11th Std, as she was Topper of Class 10th in Ashwamedh Foundation. She is one of the few students who scored good marks in Project Anubhav last year. Her academic performance and sincerety won her Project Co-ordinatorship of Project Aakalan. Sonam is doing excellent work as a Project Co-ordinator from the month of July. She is also running Library of Ashwamedh Foundation.

3) Sejal and Naresh: Sejal and Naresh are two more students from Project Anubhav who are involved in Volunteering this year. Sejal is heading the Library while Naresh is assisting Amit in Project Anubhav.

This is mid of September month. Monsoon will end soon. I am glad to share that these Project Anubhav students from the last batch are running Vasai center's Three Important Projects - Anubhav, Aakalan and Library cum reading room successfully. Our reliance on outsider Volunteers has decreased considerably now. In fact from the next year, I think that they will be ready to Lead the entire Vasai center independently without any guidance from me. It gives me immense satisfaction that I not only solved pressing problem of 'reliance on outside volunteers' but also made Ashwamedh Foundation an NGO which runs for Saturday as well. Earlier it was Sunday-to-Sunday center. I am thankful to all the Team Members of Ashwamedh Foundation including Managing Committee Members, Volunteers and Students who supported all the initiatives taken by me at the Ashwamedh Foundation.

#AshwamedhFoundation #TeamAshwamedh #NGO #ProjectAnubhav

Fininfluencers in India

2022-12-05T06:30:00.004+05:30

Fininfluencers in India

The beginning

In the year 2009, when I entered Share Market, Social Media was new and people didn't knew how to use it properly. We mostly relied on Financial Blogs and Websites (apart from Business Channels) for getting information about companies and stocks. Till 2015, only entertainment and tech channels of YouTube were famous. They started getting good audience, brand promotion opportunities and some paid assignments etc. Soon, Educational channels and Motivational channels started making their presence felt. There are only few Finance Youtubers who are left who are still active since 2015. Youtubers of Covid-times have already surpassed number of their followers in a big way e.g. CA Rachana Ranade, CA Ananth Ladha etc. to name a few. They have more followers than actual SEBI registered research analysts who are panelist on the Business News channels but also have their own YouTube channels.

Covid-time Fininfluencers

Before Covid, Fininfluencers mostly believed in making videos about Fundamentals of Stocks, Charts of Stocks and outlook of the market. Most of them had very good community engagement and they also shared share tips with their audience to gain their loyalty. But during Covid year, new influencers emerged who mostly taught people how to Invest? Theynever gave any share tips or talked about Market outlook. They focused only on teaching Concepts related to investing and trading in simplified ways. Who would have imagined that Audience which was looking for 'Share Tips' will shift completely to learning the art of investing? Thanks to the powerful content of these new creators; investor community actually started becoming financially literate.

The Covid-related panic crash of May 2020 gave very good entry point to new investors. Market valuations went 10 years back due to sharp fall. 7 Crore new demat accounts were opened in India during that period. Big Brokerages firms got defeated by Zerodha, Groww etc. new age companies. Investors made easy money. Their investment got doubled in merely one year time. Liquidity infused by US Govt gave birth to Robinhood Investors. Markets made new highs till Mid of 2021 and these FinInfluencers made most out of this 'market frenzy' by selling their courses, membership and advisory services. SEBI purposely didn't took any action against anyone because New Investors were coming to markets, New SIPs were bringing huge CashFlow in the Markets and most importantly Financial literacy was increasing during that period. We also witnessed that some Exchanges too invited some of these Fininfluencers to give Webinars on their platforms.

Outbreak of Fininfluenza on various Social Media:

After watching the Success of these Fin-Influencers, Business Channels too started inviting them on their TV Channels in various programs. We started seeing Sharan Hegde, Rachana Ranade, Ananth Ladha, Vivek Bajaj etc. on television regularly. These Fin-influencers then started collaborating with each other, they started new Start-ups, got more brands in their kitty and became famous and rich in very short span of time. Other traders who had Technical Analysis Channels didn't reach to TV Studios but they too made good money during Covid-times. Some of the Successful Traders started their Vlogs where they started flashing their new luxury Car purchase, house purchase and so on. Success of these Youtubers, encouraged many Chartered Accountants, Analysts and Finance MBA guys to take YouTube seriously. They created their brand accounts on Twitter, Instagram, Telegram and Facebook etc. all the Social Media platforms and started posting Long Videos as well as Shorts and Stories regularly. Neha Nagar, Akshat Shrivastva etc. are some examples of Fin-Influencers who got good response from people.

'How to earn from YouTube?' videos started mentioning 'Investing' as the new hot favorite 'Niche' where YouTubers can get their first 1000 subscribers and 4000 hrs. of watch time faster. More and more people entered the race of becoming Finance Influencers in this niche. Hence I have used the term 'Outbreak of FinInflluenza' for this phenomena where every Tom, Dick and Harry considers himself Market Guru. After the Ban of TikTok in India, Facebook grabbed the opportunity with both the hands. The parent company Meta gave monetization option both on Facebook Pages and Instagram. Google Stories was one more way by which Bloggers started making faster money using their Adsense accounts. New formats demanded Short and crisp videos with highly engaging content. Young Fininfluencers who had followers in 18-30 age group became expert in meeting the demand of this T20 kind of fast format on Social Media. Rest turned their Morcha to Twitter Spaces where they can spread Gyaan for 3-4 hours in stretch. Most of them don't even read regularly and share the same knowledge again and again yet they get 150+ audiences in every Twitter Space they conduct. One of the eminent Bear in the Share Market Sharad Shah has his own followers who believe in his every bearish commentary thanks to his Rs 3000 Crores networth. While others wants to trust and focus on Bulls like Kedia, Sainik who always give some hopes to Bulls. Nowadays TV personalities too started attending such Spaces and giving their views on Sectors and Macroeconomics etc. I have seen Prakash Gaba, Avinash Gorakshkar ,Rajat Bose etc. active in some spaces.

Apart from YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, one more platform is used extensively by Fininfluencers and that is - Telegram. Most of them have their own Telegram channels where they post market updates, stocks in news, links of their Youtube videos and their schedules of new webinars or course launches etc. Fake Telegram channels is one of the biggest issue for them as many scamsters try to loot Investors using their names. Interestingly, SEBI is aware of all the activities being carried out by these Fininfluencers but it has no control on Social Media. In the past SEBI has taken strict actions against Indore-based 10-12 companies running Portfolio Management Companies without legal permission. When will we see SEBI taking Strict action against Fininfluencers who give Share Tips, manage portfolios illegally etc. Selling Educational Courses is not a Crime and SEBI can't do anything about it. But Selling Advisory Services without being SEBI registered advisor is strictly not allowed. In the November 2021 circular, SEBI has announced new punishments for such Jholachaap Advisors - 1) 10 Lac penalty 2) One year imprisonment and 3) Lifetime ban from exchanges. I wonder do these FinInfluencers even know this? See, there are many fininfluencers who have CFA/CFP/CA etc. kind of certifications. They can run such services. I have objection against people who don't have any such qualifications to give Financial Advisory and yet they continue to do it just by using a disclaimer - This channel/video is for Educational purpose.

Future of Fininfluencers

One fine day, we will hear about a big scam in India by one of the Fininfluencer who is eating more than he/she can chew. Things will go completely out of his/her control and he/she will have no other option than to flee to another country like Dubai. Hundreds of people will lose their Crores of Rupees. That day SEBI will get brutally trolled by the market participants on the Twitter, leading News Papers will ask whether SEBI was sleeping all this time? Then only SEBI will wake up. The November 2021 circular came only after News Channels critized previous NSE head for taking guidance from Himalayan Sadhu for running the organization. It was failure of regulator too. How come they remained unaware of it for so many years?

Coming back to the topic of 'Future of Fininfluencers'; I can clearly say that sooner or later SEBI will take strict actions against such Market Gurus who are conducting activities which aren't legally allowed to them like Advisory, Portfolio Management etc. Genuine people who have legal authority to conduct these services will take full advantage of their fininfluener brands. There will be some cases in which a well reputed fininfluencer will destroy his/her image completely by collaborating with wrong brands/people in the industry. RBI will also interfere and advice SEBI to create some guidelines for the fininfluencers on Social media to protect the investors. With time people will themselves learn how to differentiate between genuine Market Gurus and Jholachaap Furus. Income Tax department will also start monitoring activities of Furus who show their MTM gains/losses openly on Twitter. We have witnessed how argument of P R Sundar with his follower on the same MTM issue, ended up in his infamous 'Most Vulgar Tweet of the Year' comment. It wasn't coincident that SEBI sent notice to him for some of his transactions which happened in his unregistered entity (kind of Money-laundering suspicion).

In the end, I would like to advice to all the readers to understand to be cautious about who they are following on social media. Unsolicited and Free advices can destroy their wealth completely. It's important to learn Investing and Trading from right people at right cost. Avoid paying fees to these 'Online' people blindly. Do all the due-diligence. Cyber Security in India is in its nascent stage. If your bank accounts get emptied, you won't be able to recover your money without going through tremendous mental stress and frustration. Respect your hard-earned money. Take advices from SEBI registered advisors OR learn to manage your own funds by learning the basics daily. Fininfluencers are becoming richer day by day thanks to their followers. But are the Followers making any Money yet? Ask them.

Budweiser and FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar

2022-11-21T14:07:00.015+05:30

Topic: Brands and Cultural Shocks !

Case Study: Budweiser and Beer Ban in FIFA World Cup 2022, Qatar

Well, this is awkward !

"Well, this is awkward" - Budweiser's official handle reacted to ban on Beer in FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar. This ban came just 48 hours prior to the First Match of Qatar vs Ecuador and the expression clearly shows that Budweiser wasn't expecting such U-turn from FIFA. Budweiser is an American style pale lager, part of AB InBev. introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri. Budweiser Beer is produced using barley malt, rice, water, hops and yeast. It contains 4% alcohol. Budweiser is largest seller of Beers in America and it is associated with FIFA World Cup for more than 35 years now. The ongoing 2022 Football world cup is 10th FIFA World Cup event sponsored by Budweiser. The sponsorship gives exclusive rights to Budweiser to sell beers in the Stadiums apart from its event marketing rights. Budweiser has been World Cup partner since 1986 and has reportedly spent $75 Million for latest sponsorship deal.

What Wikipedia Says about this Alcohol Ban?

As part of the Qatari bid, alcohol was to be permitted to be consumed around the stadiums. This is in contradiction to Qatari law which prohibits public consumption of alcohol and limits its consumption to high-end hotels. It was agreed that Budweiser, FIFA's largest sponsor, would be permitted to sell their beer in designated areas in the stadium. Eight days before the tournament Qatari officials informed AB InBev, the owners of Budweiser, that the beers tents were to be moved to less prominent areas and were no longer authorized inside the stadiums but still within the stadium perimeter.

Two days before the tournament, on 18 November 2022, FIFA released a statement that sale points of beer will be removed from stadium perimeters in contradiction to both the Qatari bid and the earlier commitment when the sales were moved outside of the stadiums. FIFA's response was questioned as FIFA had forced recent World Cup hosts, such as Brazil, to change their laws to allow alcohol consumption at matches in line with sponsorship commitments. Alcohol will still be permitted however inside the fan villages and inside the stadium in the corporate hospitality boxes, leading to claims of double-standards.

Is Drinking alcohol illegal in Qatar?

Qatar, which like Saudi Arabia follows an ultraconservative version of Islam known as Wahhabism, has strict limits on the purchase and consumption of alcohol, though its sale has been permitted in hotel bars for years. Drinking alcohol is not illegal in Qatar, but these rules severely limit its overall consumption. The legal drinking age in Qatar is 21, and proof of photo ID is required at the hotels or bars where alcohol consumption is permitted. Drinking out in Qatar can be punished by flogging, fines, imprisonment, deportation etc. for foreigners.

Statements by FIFA:

Following discussions between host country authorities and FIFA, a decision has been made to focus the sale of alcoholic beverages on the FIFA Fan Festival, other fan destinations and licensed venues, removing sales points of beer from Qatar’s FIFA World Cup 2022 stadium perimeter,” said the FIFA statement“There is no impact to the sale of Bud Zero which will remain available at all Qatar’s World Cup stadiums,” added the FIFA statement.“Host country authorities and FIFA will continue to ensure that the stadiums and surrounding areas provide an enjoyable, respectful and pleasant experience for all fans.”

Question on the Case Study?

Who do you hold responsible for this 'Beer Ban' fiasco during FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar? Why? What mistakes they did? If you are Brand Manager of Budweiser what will you do in such situation?

Please note, this post is compilation of News on Budweiser Beer Ban during FIFA World Cup; Qatar 2022 created for BBA/MBA Students who wants to understand 'Brand Marketing and Cultural Shocks topic'. Feel free to comment your answers in the Comment Box of this post. Thank You !

Background Story of Stocksbaazigar: Hustle documented

2021-03-06T09:49:00.008+05:30

Stocksbaazigar Mr. Deepak Doddamani

Stocksbaazigar.com completed three years on 19th Feb 2021. My journey in the share market since 2009 is summarized here

#2009

Started. Equity investment

#2010

Invested

Started sharing my calls on Rediff Money

Gave my Nifty calls on FB page AFS

#2011

Invested

Shared my calls on FB Page

Got few Portfolios to manage (managed it for free; learned positional trading here)

#2012

Invested

Shared my calls on FB Pages

Got few more portfolios (charged fees)

Started giving lectures /training (free)

Started Intraday trading

Occured biggest one day loss in August

Halted completely for 1 yr

#2013

No trading at all

But kept tracking market

Stopped giving calls everywhere

Only Nifty levels prediction

Focussed on financial literacy

Stopped managing portfolios of others

#2014

Anticipating Bull Market invested heavily

Enjoyed the Bull ride with good trading

Increased volume of Intraday to few lakhs per day

Kept sharing Fundamental & news based calls only with nifty level predictions for F & O traders.

Stopped teaching for FREE.

#2015

Booked heavy profits at Sensex 30K

Diversified to Other investments classes

Reduced equity portion considerably sighting Slow Down in Global economy.

Focussed more on Intraday trading.

Stopped Teaching others (Rejected paid offers too)

Stopped Giving Lectures

Stopped Giving Equity Calls on FB

Gave only Nifty Levels &

Stocks Ideas worth Long Term to others

Started Prop.Trading Firm Oasis Finance of Akshaya Tritiya

Reached highest Intraday Turnover.

Became complete Day Trader.

#2016

Oasis Finance first Audit

Made 13 Cr+ trading volume

Profitable year

Focussed on Positional Trades

Planned for Rs 2000/- minimum profit per day

4 Intraday Trades maximum

#2017

Oasis Finance second audit

Made 15 Cr+ trading volume

Posted Losses

Focussed on Intraday trades more

Planned for Rs 5000/- minimum profit per day

6 trades per day

#2018

Launched Stocksbaazigar website

Carry forwarded losses

Oasis Finance 3rd Audit and Wind-Up

Made 10 Cr+ Trading volume

Took Portfolio work but posted huge losses in Corporate action

Stopped Intraday Trading for completely

Planned for Rs 1000/- profit daily

Reduced Risks completely

Filed Bankruptcy

Re-started taking Clients after Diwali.

#2019

Didn't Traded for myself.

Managed 7 portfolios for 2018-19

Gave 9 to 25% returns

Started personal trading again on Muhurat Trading Day of Diwali 2019

#2020

Wanted to focus on Doddamani Group but Lockdown forced to take Clients again from June.

Offered heavy Covid-discount on Professional Fees as Investors were afraid to invest in the times of uncertainty of pandemic.

Got 7 clients again.

Most of them doubled their investments after I gave them 12-30% returns in just 3 months.

Reached milestone of Rs 50 Cr Trading volume.

#2021

Returns of Clients increased to 23 to 49% thanks to rally in the market.

Reached milestone of handling more than 1 Cr of Client's Funds

Stocksbaazigar completed 3 years.

Stocksbaazigar to get dissolved in Ratneya Consultancy Services.

The conglomerate dream continues

2021-01-09T23:56:00.002+05:30

The conglomerate dream continues...

Ratneya Group - A conglomerate for new India

Are you ready to witness the rollercoaster journey of my Conglomerate?

Let's start with the INTRODUCTION then...

Ratneya Namaskar, My name is Deepak Doddamani and you are reading my blog on Marketing and Entrepreneurship. I am a Founder of Ashwamedh Foundation and www.stocksbaazigar.com. You can read my story up to the year 2017 here: Story of Deepbaazigar On 19th Feb 2018, I started 'Doddamani Group' with its first brand 'Stocksbaazigar' - The ultimate wealth creator. In the last two years, I managed more than Rs. 1.50 Crores of my Clients and gave them good returns on their portfolios. The year 2020 was the best year for the share market as Nifty rallied from 7700 to almost 14000 in just 6 months. I gave 14 to 23% returns to my conservative clients and even 49% returns to one of my aggressive clients (high-risk appetite). As I am in the 'Business of Businesses' i.e Investing and Trading in Equities, I had enough work in my hands during the lockdown. But many of my friends lost their jobs, faced salary cuts for some months, and went through terrible frustration and financial crisis. I tried my best to help them earn through my Stocks Ideas which I shared on my telegram channel of 'Stocksbaazigar' and I am glad that some of them could do it successfully. Now as everything has come to normal and we have adjusted to the new normal of life, I am pursuing my original dream which I call 'A conglomerate Dream'. I dedicated my last decade to the 'Ashwamedh Group'. I will dedicate this decade (2021-2030) to 'Ratneya Group' (formerly known as Doddamani Group)

Why I changed the proposed conglomerate name from 'Doddamani Group' to 'Ratneya Group'?

Stocksbaazigar started under 'Doddamani Group' in February 2018. In July 2020, I renamed Doddamani Group as 'Ratneya Group'. The actual pronunciation of the word in Marathi is 'Ratney' (see the picture above). But the way we write 'Vidyalaya' for 'Vidyalay' in English, I decided to keep it as 'Ratneya'. The story behind this name is really interesting.

During the lockdown period, the Government decided to re-telecast 'Mahabharat' and 'Ramayan' serials. While watching one of the episodes of 'Mahabharat', I realized that Arjun was being called 'Kaunteya' as he was 'Son of Kunti' and Karn was called as 'Radheya' being 'Son of Radha'. I immediately decided to call myself 'Ratneya' ( रत्नेय ) which means 'Son of Ratna'. My mother's name is Ratnabai, so I am 'Ratneya' and my Conglomerate will be known as 'Ratneya Group'. All the Marwaris and Parsis prefer their Surnames as their business houses' names. I was also using my Surname 'Doddamani' to copy them. But trust me, I am feeling really good now as I have changed the name to 'Ratneya Group' now. It is unique, short, and can be easily branded. Above all, it is derived from my Mother's name, so it will be nothing less than blessings for me. I carried my pen name 'Deepbaazigar' and Professional Name 'Stocksbaazigar' (for Market) for several years now. Nothing matched the pride and sense of tremendous responsibility my 'Ratneya' identity has. I am determined to establish at least 3 successful Organizations in the next 10 years under the 'Ratneya Group'.

Ratneya Group will work in diversified sectors just like Ashwamedh Group. Only difference this time is 'Ratneya Group' will focus on product-based businesses too. In Ashwamedh Group (Media, Education, Personal Finance, Education) most of the sectors were services based. I have some sectors in my mind for Ratneya Group wiz. Healthcare, Food, Farm, Consultancy, etc. Last decade when I did more than 50 Crores of volume in Trading (in Oasis Finance and Stocksbaazigar combined), I was also running NGO Ashwamedh Foundation simultaneously. So this time when I will work for establishing various businesses under Ratneya Group, I will also complete my Social Responsibility by establishing 'Ratneya Cares' - an Environmental initiative. I have already started building teams for Ratneya Consultancy Services and Ratneya Healthcare. I am hopeful that we will get good partners and investors for Ratneya Group very soon.

This Blog will be used for sharing my journey with you all. I always like to share my entrepreneurial journey with everyone. It keeps me motivated and also gives clarity to my thought process. By any chance, if this journey manages to motivate new Entrepreneurs, I will consider my blogging useful. With this Introduction to 'Ratneya Group - A conglomerate for new India', I am ending this post. Do comment on this post and wish me luck with my ventures. Thank you.

With Love,

Ratneya

(ratneya.group@gmail.com)

Adani Wilmar trolled by Tweeple

2021-01-05T19:47:00.004+05:30

Saurav Ganguly Brand Ambassador of Fortune Rice Bran Oil

Image Source: Google

Twitter trolled Adani Wilmar mercilessly after Saurav Ganguly, Former Indian Cricket team captain and now BCCI head got admitted due to a mild heart attack in his home gym in Kolkala. Dada went through an operation and received a stent as one of his arteries had 70% blockage. As a Cricket Lover nation, we all love Dada and wish him a fast recovery. Adani Wilmar immediately stopped all its ads featuring Saurav in it and showed the best example of Corporate Insensitivity towards their own Brand Ambassador. Heart Attack can happen to anyone and Dada didn't have any previous history of the same. So stopping the Ads only because Twitter is trolling the brand doesn't make sense.

Adani Wilmar realized its a mistake and gave a statement that they will re-work with Dada when he will recover, which clearly shows the Corporate greed of the brand which wants to clear its image of an insensitive brand. What an irony, that Dada became Brand Ambassador of Fortune Rice Bran Oil in January 2020 and promoted it as an 'Oil healthy for the heart' and good for people in their 40s, and at the age of 48 he suffered this heart-attack. As Oil Technologist, we learned that Rice Bran oil is good only if its added 5% in regular Edible Oils like Sunflower Oil, Groundnut Oil, etc. So I can't comment much about whether eating 100% rice bran oil is good for health or not. But Adani Wilmar is defending its Fortune Refined Rice Bran Oil calling it rich in Gama Oryzanol and other antioxidants that lower the bad cholesterol.

The summary of the whole story is Celebrities should choose the right brands. We have seen many celebrities like Mahindra Singh Dhoni, Amitabh Bachchan, etc. getting trolled for promoting brands like Amrapali and Maggie respectively. Brands should also select their brand ambassadors properly. Sourav Ganguly is close to Jay Shah now and entering in BJP too, maybe his relationship with BJP is the reason Adani Wilmar is getting bashed by tweeple so badly now. Nevertheless, as a Consumer, we must understand that Brand Ambassadors promotes brands for Money. They don't necessarily use it. So don't fall for the Advertisement traps. Choose your products wisely.

A letter to an Entrepreneur - 8

2019-02-25T08:20:00.000+05:30

Dear Entrepreneur;

It's great to hear from you that you have decided to 'Grow' your Organization by 'Expansion'. I am sure you might have taken this major decision after deep thinking. I must congratulate you for your decision but also caution you with some words of experience.

You might have heard about 'organic growth' and also might have learned about its advantages and disadvantages. Expansion can be done in several ways. But I would love to discuss the expansion strategy which you will see in the Facebook Game FarmVille-2. You see, the game is really simple to play and looks simple at first instance. But just imagine that those coins are real Money and your farm, kitchen, Workshop etc. are real assets and then play the game. You will realize how effectively it teaches you the basics of strategic management. You can search in Google about 'FarmVille-2 & Management' or 'What FarmVille-2 teaches?' etc. keywords and you will get plenty of results and wise posts on some blogs. But here, I will tell you only about 'Expansion Strategy'.

In the game, you are a farmer and obviously, your farm is your 'core business'. Whatever crops you grow on your plots can be sold in the Market stand to earn Money. You can 'plow in the profits' into the farm by buying more crops seeds and sowing them into the plots. When you level-up in the game, you can expand your farm by completing the task which you can see in the pop-up window in the nearby land. This way once you complete the tasks and you have sufficient money to buy the land, you can expand your farm. Understand the basic things; the tasks are something like prove your kitchen skills/workshop skills etc. by preparing some recipes or Articles etc. Then collect some materials from friends and finally have the money in hand which is the 'buying cost' of the land. You know what?? Same applies in the business. You must grow only when you have acquired expertise (skills), you have all the resources (materials) and capital (money) to do the expansion. These three are crucial parameters on which decision of growth can be made. You can not decide merely on Demand-Supply whether it's the right time to grow or not?

You must have surplus money over the working capital of your existing business and at least the initial capital & working capital (which can suffice till your break-even of a new unit). You should never be in a hurry to expand your business if you are not in a position to do so. If you will do so, you will suffer a capital deficiency in the new unit/venture and lack of working capital in the existing business. Even if you will try to do Cost-cutting in the existing unit, it will affect the quality of work which in turn will reduce the profit margin of the same. In short, both your units/venture will suffer. Mind you, it's not only about Money. The same thing is applicable for your other resources. And in such case, you will get buried under the loans as the new unit/venture will become black-hole which will keep asking you more and more investment and the old unit/venture will pile-up liabilities in front of you. I hope you have understood what I mean to say.

Secondly, Expansion in allied businesses is a good strategy to do the expansion. Kitchen and Workshop along with Poultry (Hen House), Yogurt Machinery, Honey Manufacturing, etc. in Farmville are allied businesses which helps you grow rapidly. A stage comes when the increase in the cost of expansion in expensive areas becomes easier due to such allied businesses.

Thirdly, as you can see that the value-added products (recipes & articles) which you craft (in kitchen & workshop) provides you good returns. You can thus add such products to your product-line if you really want to manage the new unit working capital without affecting the old unit's operation.

Irrespective of all these logical things I must also add here. Sometimes mere intuition, guts, and risk-taking capacity etc. are used by many for deciding the right time of expansion. But only few are the lucky ones who escape the disaster and come-out as the winner in flying colors. But I advise you not to depend on the 'luck factor'. Wish you all the best for your expansion.

Regards,

Your Friendly,
Deepak Doddamani

A letter to an Entrepreneur - 7

2019-02-25T08:17:00.000+05:30

Dear Entrepreneur, You & I, we have worked together in past, and I have seen your strong desire to create your own organization. I am sure you will do it in future, as your track record clearly says that you have achieved whatever you aspired in your life. You have also discussed your start-up ideas with me and I gave you some inputs from my side on those. But I forgot to share the most important aspect of a start-up which I am going to share with you in this email.

Friend, first of all, understand this fact that entrepreneurial bug bites everyone at least once in their life. But not all dare to start something of their own. Some are afraid to take risks and some wait for the right time..which never comes. If everyone would become self-employed, then who will work for entrepreneurs like us? Hence, never force anyone hard to understand your visions..yet try to make them part of it. Yes, you got it right. I will be discussing 'How to make the right team?'

Success or failure of any organization depends on the people involved in it. No two people are the same and so it's really difficult to search for the right ones. In Business you must not look for people with similar skills - the key is to search for people who possess complementary skills to you. Most of the successful ventures are results of great team-work and the success of an organization depends upon how well the team members complement each other at the same time gel themselves in a team.

When you will approach Venture capitalist with your business plan, the first thing they would see is "feasibility of your project" and the second - "who are the people with you involved in your project ?" The most important aspect of any team is 'Goal congruence'. Are your team members aware of the overall mission of your organization? Are they aware of their responsibilities in a team and the importance of their area to the overall growth of the Organization? Are they all motivated and competitive enough to convert paper plan into reality? An entrepreneur should first consider all these aspects of team building (human resource management) as a really early stage. Because the performance of your organization very much depends upon the nascent stage of your Organization.

Every team member has their professional goals and personal ambitions and a stage comes when everyone tends to walk in a different direction if they are not fully aware of their growth w.r.to Organization growth. And that can result in poor delivery of results or lack of enthusiasm towards work, which can shut down your business completely within a few years or deceleration of growth. So it's really important for a leader to make them understand their growth path and how they can achieve it? Remember, you can't afford to show your depression in such stages. A leader must always motivate team irrespective of what he feels inside. He should discuss his fears, but shouldn't create panic situation among them.

The subject is really vast and maybe I will discuss more Human Resource Management and Team Building with you in coming letters. But at this stage I just want to suggest you that; don't be in a hurry with start-up if you don't have the right people to bank upon. Work with smart people - even smarter than you to keep yourself always on toes. Discuss your plans with them and don't even try to force your vision on them, no one can see what you see for your Organization. And finally make a team which may be an amalgamation of people with different skills like Sales, Marketing, Technical expertise, Legal knowledge, Troubleshooting skills, Finance knowledge, etc. Choose most enthusiastic and people with a positive attitude among them.

All the best for your start-up. Be in touch. Maybe your humble friend can give you more handy tips for your organization in the future. Take care. Bye.

Your friend.

Deepak Doddamani

A letter to an Entrepreneur - 6

2019-02-25T08:12:00.000+05:30

Dear Entrepreneur,

You have always been one of my brightest students. And I have always seen leadership qualities in you. I knew from the beginning that you think differently from the rest of the class and one day you will become your own boss. Today when you met me and discussed everything about your ventures and success stories as a teacher I was quite happy for you. But being a counselor I could easily read your eyes and can easily make out what is true and what is false? Now as a Management consultant I would like to share a few words with you. Hope you won't find it rude.

Everyone has a different financial background and so everyone has different risk taking capacity. Depending on the availability of sources every person decides how he can optimize resources properly. When someone decides to become self-employed he does it with his own choice and so he should be proud of his decision. Even the biggest visionary leader can tell you that they dreamt really big but not all of them had those resources. So as an Entrepreneur it is a very logical thing that till break-even you are not going to earn anything as profit. And it's really difficult to survive in that phase when you work with the limited corpus. Even if you have planned resources in advance; sometimes emergency can arise when your estimated budget gets completely collapsed and you don't have plan B ready.

Till now you might have understood about what I want to point it out here? I want to tell you clearly that Entrepreneurs should never bluff. He should be true to his consultants, his employees, his vendors, customers and above all he should be true to himself first. Whatever you have done till now is clearly visible and all credit goes to you for such a wonderful start-up. Not everyone can become his own boss as it needs lots of daring and appetite for risk. Then what makes you shy away from reality? Why you are not pragmatic enough to accept the fact that you need some more time to run your venture successfully? Basically, why you are bothered about people?

You are quite vocal that is really good for your firm as you yourself promote your firm confidently whenever you have to do it. But why do you Boast? Do you know how bad it can affect your organization? When you negotiate with your vendors you undervalue your firm and ask them more concessions but when you represent your company in the market you pretend that everything is fine with it. To some extent, you can be calculative and take mid-way route to deal with such a situation. But at the core of it, you should be more realistic and true. If you don't discuss your symptoms clearly with Doctor, how can he give you the right medicines? A similar thing applies to your business. If you don't share problems of your firm properly with your consultant how can he give you the apt solution? Think Again,

Whether it is Entrepreneurship or whether it is real life; there is three kind of people around you. One who takes you seriously, two - who don't take you seriously and third who don't have any opinion about you. So why you want to care for later two categories? Rather be faithful to people who are associated with you and your business. For your stakeholders, customers, partners, vendors, employees etc. your 'Words' means a lot.

Trust is an important factor of any business and Truth is the base of Trust.

Hope you will find my mail useful.

Regards,

Deepak Doddamani

A letter to an Entrepreneur - 5

2019-02-25T08:08:00.002+05:30

Dear Entrepreneur,

It's been long since I am associated with your Organization as a 'well-wisher and supporter'. I have seen the growth of your Organization over the years; very closely. I have learned many things about 'Effective Below The Line Marketing' from you. Many times I copied your strategies and followed your footsteps. But I have noticed that your Market share is decreasing considerably from last few years. And even after your strong presence (more than 15 years) in the Area, you have started to lose the competition with others. And I guess I know the reason behind it; so decided to share my observation with you which you may find useful.
Deepak Doddamani

Whenever any businessman starts his Organization he works really hard to gain a reputation and a brand image. But once he gets settled properly he reduces his force in branding and concentrates more on en-cashing his previously earned reputation. During the growth of his organization, he manages to create one more brand along with his Organization Brand; that brand is his 'Own Name'. It's logical that the name of the founder gets associated with Organization quickly once the Brand Value of the firm increases. And it's also helpful in getting new clients or entering altogether into the new market; near the existing one. But once you achieve this stage the 'egotism' starts misguiding you and you end up deteriorating your brand Image.

An Entrepreneur is also a leader and he must lead his employees as a Captain of Ship. But he must also be alert enough to give credit of Success to the 'Team' and take the responsibility of failures on his own shoulder. In your case, you are doing that properly. But you are overshadowing your own brand. An entrepreneur should always promote his Organization more rather than promoting himself. When your name becomes a Brand it should help you to increase the brand value of your Organization. For that reason, you must understand which brand to promote where? I can give you an example of 'Being Human' Organization. NGO of Salman Khan has equally become a reputed brand. People are buying stuff like T-Shirts, Caps etc. and helping the promotion of the brand. The reason behind this is very clear. Sallu never promotes brand 'Salman Khan' whenever he does any event of 'Being Human'. He completely talks about his NGO and their work. He keeps brand 'Being Human' ahead and hides brand 'Salman Khan' politely. Can you say the same thing about ABCL or Dreamz Unlimited? No.

I know you will surely think about my suggestion. Be clear; where to promote your Organization and where to promote yourself. Rest you know better than me :)
Sir; I will call up and decide our next meeting. Need lots of guidance from you.

Regards,
Deepak Doddamani

A letter to an Entrepreneur - 4

2019-02-25T08:04:00.000+05:30

Dear Entrepreneur,

I approached you because my friend recommended you. You have done some excellent work for his firm, and he is very much impressed with it. He liked your work and perhaps that is why I appointed you for the Graphic designing and web development work of my firm.

When you narrated your ideas, even I was so impressed with those that I gave you the work of my organization. I know you are giving your 100% best to give us satisfactory results. But I shall tell you that you may have to re-work on everything again if you don't pay attention to all my requirements properly. It will not only delay your work but also frustrate you to some extent. But you must admit that fault is yours.

The days have gone when all Ford cars were black. Now 'Customer is King' and you should keep 'Customer Satisfaction' as your top priority of business. Dear Entrepreneur; when I was sharing my ideas and tried to give you the direction of 'what exactly I need', you didn't pay much attention. Maybe perhaps you might have dealt with people who don't have much creative ideas and knowledge about web development or maybe you convinced them somehow to accept whatever you made for them as it is. But Sorry, not all customers are the same.

The biggest mistake of Technical people is that they don't try to take details of the organization before working for them. Without understanding business properly how will you make a website for our business? Don't sell me 'Me too' product, I won't take it. It may sound rude to you but in the days of Customization you can't force standardized product/Service onto your customers. You must meet me as soon as possible and understand my business, my customer base, my products, and my requirements and then go ahead with your presentation depending on my needs. Also, you are free to discuss your inputs on it and can also guide me if you have better ideas. That will be the most perfect way to work for me. I will keep monitoring your work step by step and will surely come-up with changes as per my requirements.

Hope to see you soon.

Regards,
Deepak Doddamani

A letter to an Entrepreneur - 3

2019-02-25T08:00:00.001+05:30

Dear friend,

You have been telling me from our college days that you want to become a Businessman like your father, but don't want to join his family business. That's really good; it shows that you want to create your own personality and doesn't want to hide under the shadow of your Dad's empire. But I have observed in the past two years that you are not enjoying what you are doing. Most of the time you seems to be frustrated with your job and running away from reality. I know you are doing a job only to keep yourself busy. But what's the use of such business where you don't have any goal and just working to turn the pages of the calendar of your life? I think you seriously need some career guidance and you must share your confusion with someone you really look-up as a mentor; in your case your dad.

Friend. you want to set-up a business in the field in which you completed your education. You know the cost of a start-up in the Hospitality industry is very high and you also know that the dream of your own hotel is still too far. You are not ready to start with Restaurant; as most of the restaurants in Mumbai are running at very low margins and some of them already shut down due to high real estate rates and inflation in food items. One thing is really true that you do have good knowledge about what's happening in your industry, which is a really good thing. But I know that lending foundation of your own Hotel is not a piece of cake.

But if you are really serious about your plan; I can suggest you few things. In any business; it's very important to understand the demand-supply scenario. So Market Research is very important. So before taking any liabilities on your shoulder, you can try to do the analysis of the Inflow-Outflow or Revenue model of the industry. Hence I will advise you to take a job as a Sales Executive/ Business Development Executive in your field for year or two. Study the business properly on ground level. Once you get a fair idea about how leads are generated, the demand-supply equation is met; the next step would be to start your own Freelance Marketing for the same client base. Yes; you got it right. You can personally meet with Hotel Managers in Konkan region areas and tell them that you are ready to work on a commission basis for them. Avoid crossing your earlier employers path. Once you learn these things properly and.... if you managed to do everything properly up to this step...rest things will fall in place automatically. You will be very much experienced to take a risk to start your own hotel/resort with some venture funding.

My point is: Sales and Marketing are very essential parts of any business. Once you know how & where to sell your product/service; you can easily think of producing it by yourself. Hope you agree with me. All the best for your future.
Take Care.

Regards;
Deepak Doddamani

A letter to an Entrepreneur - 2

2019-02-25T07:55:00.001+05:30

Dear Mr. Entrepreneur,

A Telephonic conversation with you, made me realize that you want to start your own publication house which is a good business in a traditional category. but I am not convinced with the reason why you want to start it and so decided to write to you before its too late.

Why do we set-up any business? What is the purpose of starting our own business? You must first try to find out answers for these questions and if you come up with satisfactory answers then only move ahead with the planning stage. See you said you are a good writer and want to publish your own book, so you want to start publishing house. Now tell me will you start up a Breweries just because you like to drink?? If your answer is yes. Go ahead. But if your answer is No, get your priorities right.

I know you are a good writer. I have read some of your poems and I found them excellent. Even though I don't have much knowledge about Publishing a book. I can tell you some logical things which any layman can tell you. To sell a book you must think from the marketer's point of view and not from the writer's point of view. Because even if you are a good writer; if the subject on which you are writing doesn't have mass-appeal it won't get enough readers and so publishers will not take a risk to publish it. Being an author You may feel sad about this fact, but seriously you yourself should give it a thought if you were in the place of publisher what would you do? Revenue minus Cost of production is profit. And without getting this equation in mind if you will try to write your book, you will find it really difficult to sell it to publishers. If you managed to get a publisher who has enough guts to take a risk to sell unconventional writing, then you are lucky !!

There are two thumb rules of success in the writing field. If you are a famous personality, anything you write will get readership and if you are really a good writer, you ought to get good readers who understand the quality of content. I guess right now you don't fit in any of the categories. If you have lots of money then you can easily publish a book. Because there are publishers who are more than happy if they can get their cost of production recovered. For that matter they will first ask you to buy a minimum 100 copies of books by yourself, they will keep all the rights to make the front page of book with themselves and will guide you to invest money to carry out a big event to launch your book in a function from an eminent personality from local politics. The purpose of telling all this thing is to make you realize that publishing your book is not as hard as you feel. It's absolutely not rocket science. But tell me, do you really want this kind of "Purchased Publicity' or you want real genuine readers for whatever you write?? The call is yours.

Coming back to your publishing venture. I will advise you to do total costing for the start-up of publishing house and tell me are you really going to run it for a longer time to at least recover your cost and make some profit out of it in long term? Do you really have a passion for running your own Organization? Are you a good reader by yourself to understand the taste of other readers? Can you seriously devote your time to publish more and more books? And then take your decision. You are planning to start your own Publishing house just because you want to Write books? Think Again.

Regards,
Deepak Doddamani

A Letter to an Entrepreneur - 1

2019-02-25T07:50:00.000+05:30

Dear Mr. Entrepreneur,

Yesterday when we had a telephonic conversation we had a detailed discussion about how difficult it is to start your own business when we don't have any resources & support. I also learned many things from your experience and for that matter got answers to some of my problems when you shared your valuable experiences with me. You enriched me with your helpful tips about finding new clients and generating new leads by word of mouth publicity. But in the end, I must admit that your approach seemed very confusing and little negative to me. So I decided to write up and share some of my thoughts about it.

Mr. Entrepreneur, you said, "We have so many Ideas, but we don't have a capital". and you also described it as the biggest hurdle in your dreams. I must say you are lucky enough to get a chance to prove yourself in challenging circumstances. I strongly feel that it's very important to take a risk at small levels first and then step by step increase your Risk-Appetite. When you do mistakes with start-ups with scratch, there is a guarantee that you may gather the courage to try again and take the risk again. But when you invest a lot of capital and fail, you will hardly try to enter any business again. Our mind gets strengths from successes and doubts from failures. I hope you may agree with it. About all when you start-up from scratch, you can build a strong foundation of your organization based on Values, Ethics, and strong reliance on 'People-oriented- teams', which is rarely possible in the organization which is build up completely on 'huge capitals' and are totally profit oriented. Organization culture plays a very important role in the long term.

Dear friend, I know you have a good educational background and a professional degree. You have already created your own 'income source' through your consultancy, apart from your job. Your desire to become Entrepreneur will be full filled when you will understand the basic fact of 'Entrepreneurship'. You must have faith in your concept and passion to convert your dream in reality. Money is secondary. Once you start working in the right direction on your concepts with lots of faith and dedication, you will automatically learn to raise funds. Moreover, you should keep patience; as many entrepreneurs quit their dreams mid-way due to lack of patience as they fail to break-even within a stipulated time.

I appreciate your thoughts of freedom & self-reliance. You have proved that you can become Self-employed and I am sure very soon you will also complete your dream to become 'Entrepreneur'. My best wishes always with you. Ring me whenever you need any help or advice from me.

Take Care of your health, as it's the main wealth :)

Regards,

Deepak Doddamani

Difference between Entrepreneur and Manager

2018-12-17T21:18:00.001+05:30

Key Differences between Entrepreneur and Manager

15 differences between an Entrepreneur vs Manager:

1) Meaning: An Entrepreneur is one who creates an Enterprise

Manager controls and administers the Enterprise

2) Focus: An Entrepreneur focuses on starting and establishing an enterprise.

Manager's focus area is ongoing operations of the existing business.

3) Resource Orientation: An Entrepreneur pursuits opportunity beyond resources controlled. He/She doesn't get constrained by resources.

A manager uses resources available to him/her. A Manager gets constrained by resources at disposal.

4) Primary Motive: An Entrepreneur'ss Primary motive is Achievement while Manager's Prime Motive is Power.

5) Approach to task: An Entrepreneur can afford to have an informal approach to the task but Manager should always approach task formally.

6) Status: An Entrepreneur is Owner of the Enterprise while Manager is an Employee.

7) Primary Econmic Reward: Profit is the main reward of an Entrepreneur while Manager work for Salary.

8) Decision Making: Entrepreurs can take decisions based on their Intutions but Managers can't afford to do that. They always take calculative decisions.

9) Risk Orientation: Entrepreneur is Risk-Taker while Manager is Risk-Averse.

10) Driving Force: Entrepreneur is driven by Creativity and innovation while Manager is driven by maintaining Status Quo. He is happy with maintaining existing affairs.

11) Specialization: An entrepreneur should know all the aspects of business. Manager needs to be specialized in his department.

12) Scale of Operations: An Entrepreneur starts a small business and when it gets larger he recruits Manager. Manager comes into play only when Organization grows.

13) Primary Skill requirements: Entrepreneurs should have creative and innovative mind, should be able to spot the opportunities. They should be able to mobilize resource and should have good negotiation skills. Manager should have good Organizing, System Design,Operating procedures and people management skills.

14) Approval: Entrepreneurs do not need anyone's approval to go ahead with his ideas while Managers needs approval from their bosses to implement their ideas.

15) Independence: Entrepreneur is an Independent person while Manager reports to his Boss. He can't reallly enjoy freedom of work as Entrepreneur does.

Characteristics of an Entrepreneurship

2018-12-17T09:27:00.001+05:30

Characteristics of an Entrepreneurship

An Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity beyond resources controlled - Prof. Howard Stevenson

It is important to understand that an Entrepreneurship is a Process. So when you talk about the Characteristics of an Entrepreneurship, you must talk about the characteristics of that process and not about the Characteristics of the Entrepreneur who is carrying out that process. So please don't mix-up characteristics of Entrepreneurship with Characteristics of an Entrepreneur. Let us discuss some Characteristics of Entrepreneurship.

10 Characteristics of an Entrepreneurship:

1) Systematic Process: An Entrepreneurship is a Systematic process of creation, management and controlling of a venture. It is not a random activity. It is a process of step-by-step pursuit of an opportunity purposely. Entrepreneurs aren't born. Anyone can develop Knowledge, Skills, Expertise, temperament, Entrepreneurship mindset required to follow the systematic process of Entrepreneurship. It is certainly not a God-Gift.

2) Lawful Pursuit: Entrepreneurship is about creating a legal entity. There are some legal compliances which one has to follow while pursuing the opportunity purposely. Just because it involves risk, one shouldn't think that illegal ways are accepted in Entrepreneurship.

3) Value Creation: The purpose of Entrepreneurship is a creation of Value. It can be personal, Social, Political or even cultural value.

4) Creation of Venture: If someone inherits a business from his Father, he/she can't be called Entrepreneur. The most important characteristics of Entrepreneurship is this process helps 'Creation of an Organization, a Venture'. Such ventures start with some ideas and produce something of value, create a new market and new customers etc.

5) Economic Process: An entrepreneurship is an economic process. Whether one runs a Business or Non-Profit Organization it involves monetary transactions. Profit maximization of stakeholders is the main goal of a For-profit organization.

6) Dynamic force: Entrepreneurship is a dynamic process. A venture is carried out in Socio-political, Economical, technological environments which keeps changing time to time. Entrepreneurship evolves in such a dynamic environment, therefore it is a dynamic force.

7) Risk-bearing/ Risk Assumption: Entrepreneurship involves different kinds of risks wiz. Financial Risk, Technological Risk, Career Risk, Social Risk, Psychic Risk etc. Risk of failure is always high when one starts a venture. The essence of entrepreneurship is the 'willingness to assume risk' arising during a pursuit of the opportunity beyond resources controlled. Ideally, the risk needs to be moderate and calculated.

8) Innovation-oriented: An Entrepreneurship involves a continues search of new ideas. Innovation is the cost-saving and revenue-enhancing for the organization. Entrepreneurship involves creative thinking. Innovation can be about new products, services, markets, ways of distribution etc. To remain competitive and relevant with time Entrepreneurship always needs to be innovation-oriented.

9) Rewards oriented: Entrepreneurship process involves reaping of rewards. A for-profit business starts a new business only in the hope of earning good profits. He will invest his energy, Efforts, Money only when he will see profit potential in the business model. While Non-Profit organizes has different rewards in mind like Satisfaction of Social work they do, Recognition of their Brand in Society, Self-development, Reputation and Independence of work. Without rewards, entrepreneurship is just a theoretical leisure activity.

10) Challenging yet Empowering Process: Entrepreneurship is an empowering process. It boosts the economy of a nation due to its very nature of the creation of ventures which in turn creates products and services, innovates new technologies and sometimes even fields. A man who pursues an opportunity with inadequate resources in hands gets empowered during the process of the growth of the organization. Entrepreneurship is a challenging process but at the same time, it is empowering too which brings a lot of sense of independence.

- Deepak Doddamani

Founder, Ashwamedh Foundation, Founder and CEO Stocksbaazigar

(MMS, B.Tech, NET in Management, NCIAP, NCMP Level - 4)

Definitions of Entrepreneur

2018-12-16T16:34:00.001+05:30

Definitions of Entrepreneur

Lets see different definitions of 'Entrepreneur'

1) An Entrepreneur is a person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit. (Dictionary)

2) An Entrepreneur is an individual who, rather than working as an employee, founds and runs a small business, assuming all the risks and rewards of the venture. The entrepreneur is commonly seen as an innovator, a source of new ideas, goods, services and business or procedures. (Investopedia)

3) An Entrepreneur is one who organizes, manages and assumes the risks of business or enterprise. (Merriam-webster)

4) An Entrepreneur is someone who exercises an initiative by organizing a venture to take benefit of an opportunity and as a decision maker decides what, how, and how much of good or service will be produced. An entrepreneur supplies risk capital as a risk taker, and monitors and controls the business activities. The entrepreneur is usually a sole proprietor, a partner, or one who owns the majority of shares in the incorporated venture. (businessdictionary)

5) Entrepreneurs are someone who starts their own business, especially when this involves seeing a new opportunity. (Cambridge Dictionary)

6) An Entrepreneur is an individual who identifies a need in the marketplace and works to fulfill it. (searchcio)

7) An Entrepreneur is a person who sets up a business with the aim to make a profit. (Oberlo)

8) An Entrepreneur is a person who sets us businesses or business deals. (collinsdictionary)

9) An Entrepreneur is the founder of the enterprise who identifies opportunities, assembles skilled manpower and necessary resources for the operation of the enterprise, attracts persons and financial institutions and takes psychological responsibility for managing the enterprise successfully. (iedunote)

10) An entrepreneur is a person who takes an idea, product or service and does whatever is necessary to introduce it to the marketplace where it can produce revenue (yourdictionary)

11) An Entrepreneur is a person of very high aptitude who pioneers change, processing characteristics found in only a very small fraction of the population. The entrepreneur word originates from the French word entreprendre which means 'to undertake'.In the business context, it means to start a business. (QuickMBA)

12) An Entrepreneur is a person who starts a new company, who takes risks associated with starting the enterprise, which may require venture capital to cover start-up costs.

(Campbell Havey)

13) A risk taker who has the skills and initiative to establish a business (Houghton Mifflin)

14) The entrepreneur initiates, organizes, manages and controls the affairs of a business unit. (YourArticlelibrary)

Definition of Entrepreneurship by Prof. Howard Stevenson explained

2018-12-16T10:16:00.002+05:30

Definition of Entrepreneurship by Howard Stevenson

Howard H. Stevenson (21 June 1941):

Prof. Howard H. Stevenson is credited with defining the working definition of 'Entrepreneurship' as 'the pursuit of opportunity beyond the resources you currently control'. He is the Sarofim-Rock Baker Foundation Professor Emeritus at Harvard University. He has written 8 books and 41 articles in his life so far. He is considered as 'Father of Entrepreneurship' at Harvard University because he is responsible for creating many Entrepreneurs from HBS, establishing the best Entrepreneur Cell in HBS, increasing faculties from 2 to 35 who work in the Subject of Entrepreneurship, academic contribution to the subject of Entrepreneurship and most importantly raising more than $600 million in Philanthropic support for Education of Students, Business, Science and Healthcare. Forbes Magazine described him as the 'Lion of Entrepreneurship' at Harvard in an Article in 2011. INC Magazine described Stevenson's definition as the 'best answer ever'. Let us discuss the definition of Entrepreneurship given by Prof. Howard Stevenson in detail.

Discussion on the definition of Entrepreneurship by Prof. Howard Stevenson:

According to Stevenson "Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity beyond resources controlled."

All the earlier definitions of Entrepreneurship were revolving around ' starting a new enterprise'. These definitions talked about the risk involved and innovation but the problem with these definitions was it didn't include 'Social Entrepreneurship' and only focussed on profit potentials. Entrepreneurship should not be limited only to Monetary value creation, it should also include societal, political even cultural value creation. So instead of defining entrepreneurship on the detailed process of Entrepreneurship or what entrepreneurs do, it was important to explain the Philosophy of Entrepreneurship. I feel Prof Howard Stevenson's definition give us exactly that.

Prof. Howard Stevenson

Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity beyond resources.

Pursuit: As per the Cambridge English Dictionary, pursuit means the act of trying to achieve a plan, activity or situation usually over a long period of time. With singular relentless focus entrepreneurs pursuit their entrepreneurial venture.

Opportunity: Entrepreneurs don't wait for an opportunity, they create one. They find out the need gap and then create goods or services to fill that need gap. This brings the important traits in the picture that is - Entrepreneurs should have 'Creativity and Innovative thinking'. Entrepreneurs are always looking for an opportunity and when they get it they tap is immediately to gain first mover's advantage. This opportunity can be about the innovative new product, devising a new business model, creating a better and cheaper version of the existing product, or targeting the same product to new markets, etc.

Beyond Resources: These two words of the definition differentiates Entrepreneurs from Administrator. Administrator allocates the resources which he has to carry out the business of the enterprise while Entrepreneurs starts his work with whatever resources he has. He has this 'Risk Taking' capacity to create a new business in resources constraints. Many founders bootstrap, they borrow funds from family and friends to start their enterprise. They keep their expenses as low as possible. They rely more on their expertise, team and hard work and determination. They never control the resources which are required to make the company self-sustainable. They plow-in the profits in the business to grow it organically first and when it becomes self-sustainable they start looking for growth capital by showing the profit potentials of the company to investors. It is wrong to generalize Entrepreneurs as insane 'risk takers'. They do take moderate and calculated risks. These risks can be related to demand risk, technology risk, execution risk, and financial risk etc.

This is how Howard Stevenson's definition of Entrepreneurship includes a summary of all the definitions previously used and all the definitions which will be devised in future. It is very deeply thought definition created from the long experience and expertise in this subject. This definition is universal and can be used for entrepreneurship in any sector. Harvard Business School teaches this definition of Entrepreneurship to its students and we all know the successful track record of HBS in creating and developing Entrepreneurs for America.

- Deepak Doddamani,

Founder of Ashwamedh Foundation, Founder and CEO of Stocksbaazigar

(MMS, B.Tech, NET in Management, NCIAP, NCMP Level - 4)

Definitions of Entrepreneurship

2018-12-15T22:49:00.001+05:30

Definitions of Entrepreneurship

(courtesy: Google Images)

Entrepreneurship: The activity of setting up a business or businesses, taking on Financial risks in the hope of profit. (dictionary)

Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship is the act of creating a business or businesses and scaling it to generate profit. (oberlo)

Entrepreneurship: The capacity and willingness to develop, organize and manage a business venture along with any of its risks in order to make a profit. (businessdictionary.com)

Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship is the process of designing, launching and running a new business, which is initially a small business. (Wikipedia)

Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship is both the study of how new businesses are created as well as the actual process of starting a new business - the term is used interchangeably. (Shopify)

Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship is the state of being an entrepreneur, or the activities associated with being an entrepreneur. (collinsdictionary)

Entrepreneurship: An Entrepreneur is a person who undertakes a venture with some profit potential and involving in a considerable amount of risk, therefore, entrepreneurship is the venture undertaken by the entrepreneur. (toppr)

Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship is the process of creating something new with a value of devoting the necessary time and effort, assuming the accompanying financial, psychic and social risks and receiving the resulting rewards of monetary and personal satisfaction and independence. (Robert D. Hisrich and Michael P. Peters)

Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship involves the identification and exploitation of opportunities to create value that can be economic and/or social. (Morrison et.al)

Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship refers to acts of organizational creation, renewal, or innovation that occur within or independent of an existing organization (Sharma and Chrisman)

Entrepreneurship: It is the process of starting a business or an organization for profit or social need. (managementstudyguide)

Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship is defined as an activity that involves the discovery, evaluation, and exploitation of opportunities to introduce new good and services, ways of organizing, markets, processes, and raw materials through organizing, markets, processes, and raw materials through organizing efforts that previously had not existed (Ventakaraman and Shane)

Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship is the process of discovering new ways of combining resources.

These are different Definitions of Entrepreneurship. But the most important definition of an Entrepreneurship is formulated by Professor Howard Stevenson the father of Entrepreneurship studies as Harvard Business School. According to Stevenson

Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity beyond resources controlled.

Marketing NGOs: 7Ps of NGO

2013-03-19T10:37:00.000+05:30

Marketing NGOs

'Marketing' was 'Taboo' word for Non Government Organizations few years back. But now things have changed. Branding and Advertising has became crucial for the survival of NGOs. Like a necessary evil the 'NGO Marketing' is evolving with the increase in mushrooming NGOs everywhere in India.

Before discussing 'NGO Marketing' let us understand the Stakeholders of NGOs. The 3 main stakeholders of NGOs are

1) NGO people (Members, Management, Volunteers, Employees)

2) Donor (Individual, Corporate, Big NGOs, Government, Groups)

3) Beneficiaries (Community, Target people)

Why Marketing is important?

Marketing becomes important so as to make Donors aware of the good social work which an NGO is doing for the Society. It helps attract more donations which can be used for more projects and activities for the beneficiaries.

Marketing also helps to spread awareness about the social cause of the NGO and hence attract more non-paid basis, self-motivated people to work as Volunteers.

Is 'NGO Marketing' a Service Marketing?

NGOs do Social Service and hence it's an obvious thing that we can use basics of Services Marketing to NGO Marketing. But as the Services are not provided for-profit basis we find some crucial differences here and there.

7 Ps of NGO sector:

PRICE: NGOs need 'funds' for implementing their programs, carry out the projects; there is a cost associated with almost all the activities carried out by an NGO. Hence the allocation of amount generated through donation is planned for the cost of execution of projects and vice verse.

PLACE: NGOs operate through their Offices and Centers. They can set-up their shops/canopy of the products which are made by their beneficiaries like handicrafts, arts, greetings, drawings etc.

PROMOTION: Promotion is very important and relevant term in Marketing of NGOs. Direct Marketing, Publicity,Sponsorship, Public relations etc. play vital role in NGO Marketing.

PRODUCT: Non profit Organization can sell products made by their beneficiaries to make them self-sufficient and improve their confidence. So here Product is equivalent to the 'benefits' provided to the target group by NGO.

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE: Donors pay generously. So they expect their money to be used for the correct purpose and hence 'physical evidence' of the 'use' of this money helps gain more donations.

PROCESS: There is a process of generating funds from donors and allocating it to projects which imparts benefits to the community. Hence the process through which NGOs generate funds from Donor Agencies is crucial in NGOs sector

PEOPLE: NGOs are completely people-oriented Organizations. Non-paid Volunteers who help on various projects are the most important people involved in NGOs. Apart from that founders and members of NGO and the employees etc. are the people who work of the community through NGOs.

- Deepak Doddamani
President,
Ashwamedh Foundation
(M): 9322269632

Creative uses of Media in Marketing Communication

2012-09-18T03:34:00.001+05:30

Check out these excellent Marketing communication medias used to creatively.

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2012-04-05T16:00:00.001+05:30

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