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My post as chairman of the Young Entrepreneurs Group of Asia Pacific
gives me the distinct opportunity of meeting very inspiring
entrepreneurs from the region. In the following interview, Mr.
Wilson Jacob of India shares his ideas, experiences, and advice on
entrepreneurship, who his mentors and sources of inspirations are,
and what lessons he has learned from his initial ventures, among
others. The 45-year-old Wilson is the chairman and managing director
of Kottayam Port and Container Terminal Pvt. Ltd., an export
promotion infrastructure development project with 49 percent equity
from the government of India located at Kottayam, Kerala. He is also
the recipient of the 2nd Young Entrepreneur Award of Asia Pacific.
Q: What was your first “business venture”
and what was the biggest lesson you learned from it?
A: An animal feed factory. It closed down in the
third year. I then learned how to do a business.
Q: Who is your business mentor, or who had the
greatest influence in your business life?
A: My father. He was not a businessman. He was
an engineer in government services, but he has had lots of business
visions while he was working.
Q: What advice would you give someone starting
out a business today?
A: Do not copy a business, try to find out and
do a different business from others, and do it differently.
Q: What principle of entrepreneurship do you
wish you knew when you were first starting out?
A: When I put up my first business, I only knew
how to start it. I didn’t know any principles. I’ve learned them
from my personal experience.
Q: What has been the most satisfying decision
you have made as a businessman?
A: Making a decision to start a
business/industry and while running the business itself is very
challenging. I’ve started four businesses. I cannot distinguish
which ones among my decisions are satisfying and which ones are not.
But I think all of them are good.
Q: What was the toughest decision you had to
make? How do you go about making tough decisions?
A: I think I am too good at making decisions at
very crucial time and very fast, too. I think it’s the grace of
the God that makes me make the right decisions at the right time.
The toughest decision was to start an ICD and Minor Port utilizing
inland water way at my home town Kottayam in India.
Q: Would you recommend to someone starting out a
business to attend a business school, or skip the degree and learn
along the way?
A: I believe the degrees and education have
nothing to do with the business and entrepreneurship. One has to be
an evergreen student in the business field. But a good education is
always helpful for communication, marketing and other planning. But
this expertise you can always hire or buy, but you cannot buy or
hire entrepreneurship.
Q: Is there any difference between India and the
rest of the world in the nature of your industry?
A: Yes, very much. I believe India is the best
country to start the business or an industry because of the
availability of human resources and consumerism. Also, the business
management theory of the US or other countries will not work in
India. India has got its own business theories and principles
especially in labor issues.
Q: What were the challenges you faced in setting
up your business and how did you manage them?
A: The challenges were many. Some of them are:
Breaking the mindset of the people—it was a big challenge for us
to break the mindset of the people for undertaking such a project
and galvanizing their support. Raising the fund—the people
believed me because of my style of performance. After seeing my
passion for the project, various agencies and individuals came
forward to invest in this project. Preparation of detailed project
report—there was no previous standard set for this kind of
project. Hence we had to start from scratch. We ourselves prepared
the project report by collecting data from layman to experts. It is
said that 50 percent of the project is over if you make a good
project report. And finally we did it successfully.
Other challenges we faced included:
Development of waterway. Development of road to
the port. Development of water logged areas which had to be
converted into a useful land.
Construction of a fully hydraulic propulsion
container barge 37-meter in length, 7-meter in width with 1.25-meter
draft. Introduction of roro (roll-on, roll-off) to avoid two
handlings.
Q: What do you think are the most important
attributes of a good and successful businessman?
A: When you are planning to start
business/industry, try to learn as much as possible about the
business. Of course you can hire highly technical manpower to run
the business. But one should try to know anything and everything
about that particular business. Ultimately, you are the leader and
you are the one to make the decisions at a crucial time, to make the
right decisions at the right time.
Q: Are entrepreneurs born or made?
A: I think majority are born entrepreneurs, but
some become entrepreneurs by circumstances.
opinion@manilatimes.net
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