Entrepreneurship

When we were young our father will inspire us on becoming entrepreneurs. He was working in JK group and somehow entrepreneurship and private companies were what I found attractive and natural. Why two choices, entrepreneurship and private companies, I hear someone asking. Is it not a disaster to think of two choices? Yes, it is a disaster. When you think of entrepreneurship it is only entrepreneurship you can dream of. The reason for private companies choice is as a kid I thought of share market and composing ad jingles. I thought in free time in a private office I will do these two. So I was not very serious on entrepreneurship.
The government is taking legal opinion on venture capital by individual foreign direct investment. Venture capital is fantastic for software. I sometimes hope for a venture capital project. But then better sense prevails. It is best to do good where you are present, than, take unnecessary challenges.
Now, China and far east are great economies first. And then maybe technology. Also China is famous for quality small scale and medium scale goods. If you look at toys, dumbbells etc. you will know what I am talking about. I feel south India is similar to China in this respect. Golu padi, grinding machines are good examples. So we have already done our best with regard to 'Make in India'.
Now entrepreneurship is not easy. Imagine all the financers running after you and you are not getting money from sales. It is not just the production loss in factories. It is real competition where only your edge at the international level that matters. That too this edge should be in the entrepreneurship field you are into.
Now to end. What project/product is best for entrepreneurship?


 

Support GM foods . . . here

GM crops are crops grown on genetically modified seeds. Generally GM crops are more resistant to pests and are suitable for adverse weather conditions.
Why is there an opposition to GM crops? As far as my knowledge goes, GM crops for cotton is there in India. But there was a laboratory trial for brinjals and the labs showed that the brinjals may be poisonous to humans. Despite support for GM crops by ministers, the public seemed against it. The media played an irrelevant role in this crucial issue.
The poison if at all present, which some magazines said, is very less. Compare it to the pesticides we consume from vegetables and fruits we eat nowadays. And the carcinogenic colours. They are harmful too.
The government has planned food security bill. We need to be self sufficient in food at all times to achieve this. But given our history of irregular rains and poor storage we stand nowhere in the guarantee of food to the below poverty line.
A food item eaten is effective for people in 19 sq km area. Why do I say so? Because a person needs more food, to travel more than this distance.
The government must make plans using the above formula and experiment with GM seeds. I pray for a brave and logical approach to make GM seeds successful.
 

My Dream Business

This post is in response to the invitation by indiblogger contest on "Your Dream Business" using Microsoft Office 365 products. http://www.office365.in/.
Microsoft Office 365 is about OpenXML standards among other things. OpenXML is a standard for including database objects in your word document, excel spreadsheet or in a powerpoint presentation.
A asp.net program can be developed with a supported language like C#. This program can embed data from a table into a word document or an excel spreadsheet or a powerpoint presentation.
There is scope for using OpenXML in Indian business scenario. What do small business offices look out for? They mainly want information stored in various formats like access, excel, text to be suitably presented in a powerpoint slide or maybe as a report in word. They also expect such a system be dynamic and change with the change in data. And they also expect that a datum presented be editable to maybe round off figures or maybe change the font size.
OpenXML programming is most suitable for above need and Office 365 supports OpenXML. I have developed a prototype using OpenXML in Visual Studio 2005.
Though it would not be a dream business, I will definitely treat it as an exciting option and a challenging entrepreneurship assignment. And of course a step towards . . . . . Everything At Once.
 

Direct Cash Transfer Schemes Opened

Our PM Dr.Manmohan Singh has launched direct cash transfer schemes.
Under Aadhar programme, the workers need to be paid. MNREGA schemes were getting controversial because money meant for the poor never reached them. The middlemen siphoned off money and only a fraction of what was meant for the poor reached them. Also government needs to pay subsidies to poor. Here too, corruption prevented poor from getting the money due to them.
Now, our PM has planned for direct cash transfer scheme. This will ensure that money can be transferred to a poor man's bank account. This is a very big achievement for the government.
Will there be loopholes? Yes, it is possible that loopholes may be there. What if there are two Raghus? Duplicate Raghu may be getting credit in his account in place of actual Raghu. Clearly this problem is a bank's problem. Because they have not verified the records of the person opening the account. Or it might be inefficiency of MNREGA officials for not confirming bank account.
India must develop working in a professional way. The problem area should be clearly identified and clear cut actions need to be taken. This is very important. Without good administration direct cash transfer scheme can be dangerous. Because money can go to wrong hands and then the money cannot be taken back. How can someone say "Give back 1 lakh rupees because I gave you wrongly"?
 

Rupee at 54 to a dollar - the lowest ever

Rupee is falling. And is loosing respect. Needless to say, it is loosing respect in India too. The inflation in prices has made it impossible for poor to buy common items. They have become so costly. The government is passing laws and amendments to laws to control economy. This method of controlling the economy is akin to saying "You marry but you shall not have sex". How can making laws control the economy? Only market forces has to control the economy. And government should encourage such steps which shall encourage market forces controlling the economy. This will give value to the rupee.
Then there is the problem of huge fiscal deficit. The government expenditure being the major factor in the deficit. Salaries and operating costs are piling up day after day and no one seem to be taking steps for this. Why should government employees loose confidence? We have profit making public enterprises contributing to the economy in a positive way. Why should we get scared of disinvestment? Disinvestment in shares of public enterprises will allow market forces to take care of deficit. If not much decrease in deficit, the fact cannot be denied that accountability will increase. This will benefit the whole of India. You and me. Everyone will benefit by the rupee.
We may also offer shares of our good performing public enterprises to non-Indians. This will keep the dollar in check. Also the modernization and better practices will come to public enterprises and the efficiency of the public enterprises will improve.