Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation and Steel, Government of India, advised entrepreneurs and founders to pay attention to “granularities” as the devil lies in the details.
Speaking at TechSparks, YourStory’s flagship tech-startup event, held in Delhi for the first time, Scindia advised founders and aspiring entrepreneurs: “You have to ensure that the business model of your company shapes a current process to do something different. It should add more value.”
He also urged budding entrepreneurs to maintain commitment. “Nothing can replace hard work and dedication,” he said.
“Most importantly, learn to believe in yourself, have a clear conscience, and get a good night’s sleep,” the Minister said.
Recalling his days before public service, Scindia said his life before becoming a public servant was very different and it helped him gain a new perspective.
After graduating from Harvard University, Scindia embarked on a six-year career in banking at top investment banking firms, including Morgan Stanley. He lived in different parts of the world, including New York and Hong Kong, and set up an investment banking division in Mumbai.
“Then I decided I wanted to do something different. But I could not figure what,” the Minister said, during a fireside chat with YourStory’s Founder and CEO Shradha Sharma.
Scindia thought the best way to move forward was to spend two years at a business school.
He went on to study at Stanford Graduate Business School. During the second year of the programme, he got a “silver bullet’ which one could use to gain access to a course that is most vied for. He used it for a course on entrepreneurship, which helped him gain valuable insights and experience in building an effective business plan.
Scindia got together with his classmates and formed a team of five for a competition. The team came up with a business plan to popularise outsourcing in India.
“Most of the outsourcing used to be popular among high-volume and low-margin businesses, like for selling credit cards. We were looking at the other end of the spectrum with a focus on low-volume and high-margin technology-oriented businesses, including the setting up of network-operated centres of IT companies in India,” he said.
Scindia’s team won the competition and wanted to turn the business plan into reality.
Thus began Scindia’s tryst with entrepreneurship. In August 2001, the team charted the estimated costs and started scouting for a chief executive officer. It also started looking for office spaces in India and get the logistics in place.
However, Scindia’s life changed two months later when his father Madhavrao Scindia passed away.
Today, the Minister has completed 20 years as a public servant.
“I like what I do,” said Scindia, adding, “I’m not a politician, I’m a public servant.”
Edited by Swetha Kannan
