When one hears of the Mittal, Tata, Birla or Reliance empire, one is awed by the opulence that depicts success. It becomes easy to forget that they too had to build their empire from scratch and that their vast empire also started as a Small or Medium Enterprise they built painstakingly to its present flourish. Their success story is not restricted to them, unlike what most people believe. What gave, and continues to give them edge over others is their focus, persistence, hard work and smart business moves.
One must remember that SMEs are still the unexploited potential for India. In today’s era of technological advancement, an enterprise achieves exponential growth overnight, and there is no restriction on the organics of the stride it makes. As Henri Matisse says, “In the beginning you must subject yourself to the influence of nature. You must be able to walk firmly on the ground before you start walking of a tightrope.” The tightrope is the route to creating an empire just as most SMEs envision. It is a path that one has to create for oneself using the present circumstances.
Each enterprise, whether large or small, has an important bearing in the shaping of a nation’s economy, and has its due cognizance. A country’s economy is not run by big companies and MNCs alone. Each enterprise pools to the country’s GDP in his own ways and each contribution is immensely important, for it is brick by brick that nations are made. For example: Say, if the nation’s GDP is 801.247 billion dollars, and if you had to consider the output of an enterprise of a million dollars out of it, then the GDP is a reduced 801.246 billion dollars, which is surely a reduction if you care. And therefore, said, each contribution has its signature and a bearing of sorts, that you cant ignore.
In India’s corporate history, there are several names that have made it big – in fact, very big, emanating from the genesis of a small or a medium enterprise. All the one-generation entrepreneurial stories, for example, that of the world’s fifth richest L.N. Mittal, or for that matter, a host of them, namely, N. R. Narayanamurthy, Sunil Mittal, Ramaliga Raju, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Shiv Nadar, Tulsi Tanti, Karshanbhai Patel, Atul Choksi, Venugopal Dhoot, Shashi Ruia, Anil Agrawal and many more. Their stories speak volumes of how SMEs managed by them have transformed into big ticket corporations. In fact, if you peruse the Forbes 40 list of leading Indian entrepreneurs, you barely have 15 of them who owe their allegiance to business houses who have traditionally been big. And, that, precisely explains the power and potential of growth of the SMEs.
For instance, while L.N.Mittals’s name is abuzz all over the global media and so frequently as the Global Steel Giant, one forgets that he too had humble beginnings. He had begun his innings with a few thousand rupees going through a roller-coaster of fortunes. He had put up a factory with his father and uncles and later initiated the first IPO of his joint family business when he was barely 20 years old. The IPO rolled off modestly and eventually gathered success in its path. His family eventually moved to Kolkata where his father became a partner in a steel company. In 1994, he branched out on his own, taking over the international operations of the Mittal steel business. Through his vision and hard work, Mittal has built the moderate business of his family into a global steel giant, which spans across many countries. His is not an exclusive success story. There are thousands of SMEs who are working on exponentially enlarge their horizons, fighting all competition to emerge victorious.
The earlier an SME prepares for its future success, the more prepared it is to achieve it. The most important of all is to be recognized over other enterprises. By creating a distinct identity, any enterprise leaps ahead in the race and sooner it rubs shoulders with bigger companies and potential clients. How does one create identity that reaches out to everybody? Towards this need, this platform has been created where all enterprises are at an equal standing. Here one deals with another not as a big or small company, not by the number of employees in the organization but with recognition of the potential that sets one apart from the millions enterprises in the horizon. Besides the well known companies and well known personalities from the business world, we also narrate and discuss enterprises that are making the shift from SMEs to global names, to reckon with. This is a turf where businessmen not only notice your company, but also the protagonist, i.e., yourself. You are the face of your organization. People identify your organization with you. Hence it is imperative to be noticed.
SMEs have the potential to grow with the right opportunities rather than fading among the millions. Each SME can be the next Mittal, Tata or Birla, or even bigger. Most people get deterred by the competition around them and the struggle seems hard but it is essential to remember that only a determined beginning can make a success story. Our initiative is not just to acknowledge the people who are in the limelight, but to recognize those who have made achievements and those who are on their path to success. Our welcoming note to the achievers who believe that progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.
Hence, Icon Publication (link) is a portal encompassing sites that are dedicated to individuals from various arenas, all towards communicating to the world that these icons deserve to be saluted for all they have rendered to the global society with commitment, integrity and hard work. Our endeavor has been to strive to achieve something close to comprehension across the spectrum.
It might be challenging, but not impossible. And we only make it easier for you to realize your potential and gift our country your success story. |
