 Home |
|
|
|
India - News
|
15 September 2006
News Updates
India's Most Powerful
Business-women Social conformity. Traditional family roles. Sounds like the U.S. at the height of the feminist revolution in the early '70s. But this is India today, a country where women are becoming more prominent. Not just in politics - but in big business, too. In increasing numbers, women are fighting long-standing prejudices and are working their way to the top of companies or starting their own businesses. However, women in India, a country that prides itself on being a traditional society, still face enormous pressure to conform to social mores. More often than not, the hurdle of conforming to traditional roles within families poses as much of a barrier to businesswomen in India as the still-too-thick glass ceiling at companies. Though women have made great strides in the corporate world in the last three decades, women from all income classes are still too often discouraged by family members from having careers that infringe too much on family life. However, in the last 30 years, a handful of businesswomen in India, including Lalita Gupte, Kalpana Morparia, Anu Aga, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Simone Tata, have quietly broken through the barriers of social conformity--both at home and in the workplace--to become successful entrepreneurs and professionals. A few, like Indu Jain of privately held Bennett Coleman, India's biggest media house, have even reached billionaire status. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw started one of India's first biotech companies, Biocon. Lalita Gupte and Kalpana Morparia (both were the only businesswomen in India who made our list of the World's Most Powerful Women), run India's second-largest bank, ICICI Bank. Simone Tata built one of the first indigenous cosmetic brands, Lakme, now a unit of Hindustan Lever, which is owned by Unilever. And Anu Aga turned around an ailing company, the engineering firm Thermax Group. Then there are two women who have had to display their leadership skills at a young age. Priya Paul became the president of Apeejay Surrendra Group at the age of 24 when her father was assassinated in 1990. Sulajja Firodia Motwani, managing director of Kinetic Motor, has ensured that in the past six years her company has collaborated with firms in Korea, Italy and Taiwan and has helped it grow from a niche moped maker to a manufacturer of a full range of two wheelers and auto components. Another sector in today's India that can boast of female leadership is technology. Since joining Microsoft India as its managing director in 2005, Neelam Dhawan has helped it grow 35%. Why are women doing so well in India? One reason: the country's long history of valuing education, so women who achieve academically are seen as smart and savvy. And it ordinarily doesn't hurt to come from money or an entrepreneurial family either, especially when you're trying to start a business. But three decades ago, when India's top women were just out in business, women were discouraged by society from pursuing careers. "In the 1970s, the odds were against them," says Bakul Dholakia, director of Asia's premier business school, the Indian Institute of Management, in Ahmedabad. "What really made them successful was their sheer determination to break through," adds Indira Parikh, a former dean at the Institute of Management and president of the Foundation for Liberal and Management Education in Pune, outside of Mumbai.
Learning the Art of giving For Rohini Nilekani, making the money was the easy part. The Bangalore-based wife of Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani, Rohini owns 1.67% of the Indian outsourcing company, and her personal fortune soared to about $300 million along with the meteoric rise of its stock. She calls her windfall "a quite frightening amount of money." And as soon as it started rolling in, the social activist and journalist began to look for ways to give enormous sums away. That's been the hard part. With little guidance available for the country's would-be Rockefellers, Nilekani became a self-taught philanthropist, building two foundations from the ground up. So far, she has provided a total of $37 million to Akshara Foundation, which is dedicated to education, and the Arghyam trust, which tackles water issues. But the entrepreneurial zeal she brings to the organizations she runs is as striking as the size of the checks she's been signing. The source of her inspiration? "We're learning from the Bill Gates Foundation, and ones like it," she says, referring to the Microsoft co-founder's famously hands-on, results-driven charitable institution. "It's about accountability and sustainability now. We want to make improvements on a level that no one else has done before." Those sentiments are increasingly heard throughout Asia, where mounting prosperity and changing attitudes toward charity are altering the ways the wealthy give back to society. Charitable donations in the region have traditionally tended to be a private affair, with the rich quietly giving directly to needy individuals within a family, religion or village network. Now, with tens of thousands of Asians amassing fortunes so large they can no longer responsibly give away substantial sums on a personal, ad hoc basis, professionally run philanthropic foundations like those that arose in the West in the late 19th century are coming to the fore. In July Indian-born mining tycoon Anil Agarwal pledged to give $1 billion to help build a world-class university for his native country, telling TIME, "India desperately needs to improve education ... [And] what is the point of money if it's not made to be given back to society?" In India, where new tycoons are beginning to practice Western-style philanthro-capitalism, investing money to alleviate pervasive social problems with the same rigor they apply to their businesses and with the same insistence on measurable results. For example, the Azim Premji Foundation, funded by the billionaire head of Bangalore-based software company Wipro, is helping to reform India's education sector by implementing on-the-ground assessments of the effectiveness of teaching programs at thousands of schools in the country's Karnataka state. It's no coincidence that many of India's most innovative philanthropists come from the Bangalore tech sector, home to relatively young, self-made tycoons who often have more global experience than counterparts in China or Japan. "India is much more connected internationally," says Jai Mukherjee of New Philanthropy Capital, a London-based charity-consulting firm. "You see these trends move to India faster than the rest of Asia." Even without government support, Asia's rich are increasingly learning to savor the pyschic luxury of altruism. "If you don't want to buy airplanes or diamonds, what are you going to do with your wealth?" asks Nilekani. "For me, when I see new schools we helped start, or I see kids eating up the books we've published, it's just a continuous moment of feeling good." As
the Economy Flourishes, wine Is the Toast of India Having mutton curry for dinner? A German Riesling, with its subtle tones of mango, litchi and jasmine, may be the perfect accompaniment. Unusual culinary advice, but it's swirling in the mouths of hundreds of thousands of Indians who have adopted a new deity into their bountiful pantheon: Bacchus, the Roman god of wine. Escaping from the confines of a few high-end hotels, wine is rapidly becoming the drink of choice among Indians who have grown affluent as the economy has boomed. "People want a better lifestyle, and wine is the symbol of the good life," said Subhash Arora, president of the Delhi Wine Club. With more than 1 billion people, India consumes some 6 million cases of wine a year, compared with the 250 million cases consumed in the United States, population 300 million, and the 320 million cases sipped in France, home to some 60 million people, according to industry figures. But with wine sales growing at some 25 percent a year since 1998, according to the government, Arora estimates there are potentially 20 million to 30 million wine drinkers in the country. Fully tapping that market means creating a culture of wine drinking, and in the process weaning Indians from their beloved whiskey-and-sodas, Arora said. For him that starts simply with coming up with a good name for wine. There is no word for wine in Hindi, where it is known as "sharaab," a collective term for all alcohol, "which has some negative connotations. Wine needs to be called wine," he said. His other goal is to educate Indians about wine, and that has included setting up the Indian Wine Academy, which organizes tastings and workshops. "Wine is one of the very few drinks that need to be understood a bit to enjoy properly," he said. Others go even further. Sourish Bhattacharyya, a prominent food critic and author, is determined to disprove the idea that wine is overwhelmed by spicy Indian dishes. "We had chicken tikka with a viognier chardonnay from South Africa; the match was perfect," he said. German Rieslings also went very well with Indian foods, particularly mutton dishes, he said. In recent months the Indian Wine Academy has brought together wine exporters from Italy, Germany, South Africa and Chile with India's leading chefs, restaurateurs and sommeliers, to match wines with Indian dishes. High taxes and import duties that drive up wine prices present a tough challenge to importers. The levies are intended to protect producers of local wines -- which, while improving, are still competitive only with low-end foreign wines. A local bottle costs about $10. Foreign wines, in contrast, cost eight to 10 times more than they would in Europe or the United States because of duties and taxes that can boost the price of a bottle by as much as 300 percent, said Emeric Christiansen, a New Delhi-based importer of French wines and champagnes. But, International producers are giddy at the thought of so many budding consumers. "India for us is a very small market, but there is tremendous potential," said Chile's ambassador to India, Jorge Heine, who hosted a recent wine tasting on the lawns of his residence, showcasing top-end brands from his country. "With 1.1 billion people, there is room in the market for everyone. If we could sell one teaspoon of wine to every Indian. . . . " Heine said wistfully. Are
Indians the Model immigrants? They have funny accents, occasionally dress in strange outfits, and some wear turbans and grow beards, yet Indians have been able to overcome stereotypes to become the U.S.'s most successful immigrant group. Not only are they leaving their mark in the field of technology, but also in real estate, journalism, literature, and entertainment. They run some of the most successful small businesses and lead a few of the largest corporations. Valuable lessons can be learned from their various successes. According to the 2000 USA Census, the median household income of Indians was $70,708—far above the national median of $50,046. An Asian-American hospitality industry advocacy group says that Indians own 50% of all economy lodging and 37% of all hotels in the U.S. Anna Lee Saxenian, a dean and professor at University of California, Berkeley, estimates that in the late 1990s, close to 10% of technology startups in Silicon Valley were headed by Indians. You'll find Indian physicians working in almost every hospital as well as running small-town practices. Indian journalists hold senior positions at major publications, and Indian faculty have gained senior appointments at most universities. Last month, Indra Nooyi, an Indian woman, was named CEO of PepsiCo. A MODEST EXPLANATION. Census data show that 81.8% of Indian immigrants arrived in the U.S. after 1980. They received no special treatment or support and faced the same discrimination and hardship that any immigrant group does. Yet, they learned to thrive in American society. Why are Indians such a model immigrant group? The reasons could be: Education. The Census Bureau says that 63.9% of Indians over 25 hold at least a bachelor's degree, compared with the national average of 24.4%. Indians believe that education is the best way to rise above poverty and hardship. For my generation, what was most socially acceptable was to become a doctor, engineer, or businessperson. Therefore, the emphasis was on either learning science or math or becoming an entrepreneur. Hard work and Determination. With India's competitive education system, children are forced to spend the majority of their time on their schooling. For better or for worse, it's work, work, and more work for anyone with access to education. In a land of over a billion people with a corrupt government, weak infrastructure, and limited opportunities, it takes a lot to simply survive, let alone get ahead. Indians learn to be resilient, battle endless obstacles, and make the most of what they have. Entrepreneurial spirit. After observing street markets, Prahalad says that "India is a beehive of entrepreneurialism and creativity. Every individual is engaged in a business of some kind—whether it is selling single cloves of garlic, squeezing sugar cane juice for pennies a glass, or hauling TVs." This entrepreneurial sprit is something that most Indians grow up with. Also, Indians generally pride themselves on being fiscally conservative. Their businesses usually watch every penny and spend within their means. Humility. Talk to almost any immigrant, regardless of origin, and he will share stories about leaving social status behind in his home country and working his way up from the bottom of the ladder in his adopted land. It's a humbling process, but humility is an asset in entrepreneurship. You learn many valuable lessons when you start from scratch and work your way to success. Family support/values. In the absence of a social safety net, the family takes on a very important role in Indian culture. Family members provide all kinds of support and guidance to those in need. Networking. Indians immigrants found that one of the secrets to success was to learn from those who had paved the trails. Successful Indian technologists in Silicon Valley formed an organization called The Indus Entrepreneurs to mentor other entrepreneurs and provide a forum for networking. TiE is reputed to have helped launch hundreds of startups, some of which achieved billions in market capitalization. Top Indian journalists and academics created the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) to provide networking and assistance to newcomers. In the entertainment industry, fledgling filmmakers formed the South Asian American Films and Arts Association (SAAFA). Indians have achieved more overall business success in less time in the U.S. than any other recent immigrant group. They have shown what can be achieved by integrating themselves into U.S. society and taking advantage of all the opportunities the country offers. |
News Updates
|
|
Questions
(FAQ's) or Comments (feedback) about this
site? Email to
damanig@diehardindian.com |
|
