How first-time entrepreneurs suffer...

My website is just a week old and it's been exactly nine months since I started work on it. So, in a way, it's almost been like having a baby. I just had to share with my readers what an experience it has been - one might call it a warning of sorts.

The companies in India that provide support services like domain hosting, server space, domain registration, corporate e-mails are dime a dozen. But as with everything else, I asked a friend to recommend the right people to do business with and he suggested Net4 India, who also host his site www.carbonyatra.com. I went to them for all of the above services, except domain registration which I got done at a cheaper rate with India Internets.

On May 17, a Saturday, I transferred money to Net4 India's account and I was told by their sales executive Savita Kamath that everything will be enabled in 24 hours. But in reality, till May 29, it was apparent that they were just not capable of giving me great service. After giving them 2 weeks to sort out problems, it still hadn't been sorted out. So, on May 29 (Thursday night), I told my developer to take my site off their server and he immediately posted it on a US server and the site was online in a matter of hours on the same night. Now that's called quality service...wouldn't you agree? So, I'm entitled to get a refund right? Wrong! Net4 had found ways to hang on to my money, by getting someone from their office to call me and tell me that "We didn't deny you services, you chose to leave!"

For more on this issue, I'm posting my e-mails to them and their responses to those e-mails. I hope you read them and learn that giving quality service is the last thing on their mind and hanging on to your money is more important to them.

Ultimately, they still have my money and I'm going to transfer domain registration to them and and use it up that way, so as to not use too much of their awful services. But read the emails...


From: manali rohinesh
To: savita.k@net4.in
Subject: Expedite my refund
Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 13:15:10 +0000

Hi,

I would like a complete refund because Net4 has not been able to host my website. It's been two weeks since I made a payment of Rs 3,818 to buy ASP.NET, a package of 5emails and just simple hosting and it's been a never ending process of raising trouble tickets.

If Net4 has so many issues that needs people to raise trouble tickets so frequently (even BEFORE the person's site has been hosted), may be there is something here that you need to look into.

My experience has been an unhappy one. Trouble ticket queries were not resolved except the one about the webmail not working. And shouldn't this be working when a Net4 executive tells me that my email IDs have been enabled? Apparently not. Because no one bothers to send me a mail saying that after enabling, I've got to go to the control panel, create aliases...and then after that go to another website called mail4india.com and do the same procedure again. I don't call this a user-friendly method at all. Was I supposed to get all this step-by-step process to 'enable' my emails in a dream or in an e-mail? Also all this information was given to me over the phone by your technician after I asked 'how does one know these IDs are active?' And even then, your mail forwarding didn't work for which a trouble ticket was raised...so please tell me what exactly did you enable?

I can't work with a backup support that needs this much hand-holding and where it's such an effort to provide smooth service.

The delayed launch of my site has been a victim of Net4's inefficiency. I'm in a curious position, where because of word-of-mouth publicity, people are waiting to check my site out and I've got business cards printed to give out to people, but I don't have the site hosted yet!

Please expedite my refund immediately as decency demands this because Net4 has not been able to provide the services, for which it was paid, to begin with.

Please credit my bank account for the same. My account is with ICICI Bank, Prabhadevi branch and the A/c no is XXXXXX.

Regards

Manali

I got a verbal reply saying there would be no refund. So, I took it to the next level...to Savita's boss Mr Sanjay Kathuria whose 'head in the sand' attitude and complete state of denial was really amazing. Here's my next e-mail to him.


From: manali rohinesh
Sent: 03 June 2008 11:13
To: sanjay.k@net4.in
Cc: savita.k@net4.in
Subject: FW: Expedite my refund

Mr Kathuria,

I want my money back for the services Net4 has not provided. As a listed company, you shouldn't be hanging on to people's money through crooked means. Not having provided a service, you've got no reason to hold on to my money...and this is understood in any language in any country across the world...except possibly in India and your organisation.

I can prove in any forum that I've made this payment. Can you prove you've kept your end of the bargain?

So, on what grounds are you refusing to refund the money?


Manali

His response...

From: sanjay.k@net4.in
To: rmanali@hotmail.com
CC: savita.k@net4.in; anamika.m@net4india.net
Subject: RE: Expedite my refund
Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 11:56:41 +0530

Hi,

I am getting it checked, you will get the update by end of the business day.

As such we have automated system at the backend so what caused the delay is something important to know.

Regards

Sanjay K

After this e-mail, I got that great phone call and I then wrote to him again.


From: manali rohinesh
Sent: 04 June 2008 10:59
To: Sanjay Kathuria
Cc: savita.k@net4.in; 'Anamika Mukherjee'
Subject: RE: Expedite my refund


Mr Kathuria,

I got a call from someone from your office yesterday. Please don't waste my time by getting your people to call me and trying to justify to me why Net4 would like to illegally hold on to my money.

I was not impressed by the girl's argument that 'Net4 never denied you service, you chose to leave'. Before making such stupid statements, please remember 'why' I chose to leave. I gave you ample time to provide me with your 'so-called service' and out of frustration, I had to see what was good for me. You probably would have liked me to stick with you guys indefinitely, even when I don't like the quality of your service, which is JUST the question here.

I would like to ask all three of you to whom this e-mail is addressed to - do any of you use the other services that your company provides to people? Apart from your corporate e-mail IDs, I don't think, any of you know the first thing about 'using' any of your own company's services. So, please don't pretend you know what I went through. If anyone has a fair idea, it's Savita.

If you were not served at a restaurant after sitting there for more than 10 minutes, you would consider that as being poor service. Would you like it if you were charged for just sitting there? Would you like it, if the restaurant manager came to you and said 'I'm not denying you service but you chose to leave' because 'eventually' he planned on serving you? This is exactly the case with me. I don't think I need to highlight the issue anymore in a more clear manner.

If the only smart person in your organisation with any conscience is Savita, then you need to seriously do some thinking. After all, I don't think India is a banana republic, where this kind of behaviour is acceptable. Have you heard of terms like 'corporate ethics' or not?

What's more, my developer has told me that every other company in India doing exactly your kind of work, has a 30-day refund period. Money has to be refunded if the work is not done satisfactorily. So, I repeat, I'm well within my rights in every sense of the word to demand my money back. Net4 didn't provide satisfactory service and as a free citizen of this country, I can take my business anywhere else I want to.

Please let's not quibble anymore. Also stop looking for endless reasons to hang on to money that does not belong to you. You don't have a ground to stand on. Today is Wednesday, and I want this issue resolved by the weekend. And when I mean resolved, I mean to my satisfaction - this is the least 'service' your company can provide...let me see if you do that.


Manali

His response...

From: sanjay.k@net4.in
To: rmanali@hotmail.com
CC: savita.k@net4.in; anamika.m@net4india.net
Subject: RE: Expedite my refund
Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2008 18:13:44 +0530


Dear Ms Manali

Let me be absolute clear with you, There is no intention to hold money of any customer. As a service provider we value the customers and their importance but at the same I will not buy the argument wherein you said services were never delivered to you. I have personally gone through all the TTs opened by you and responses(you can also read in net4 control panel), in which 2 were for mails and 5 for some add on feature and folder permissions on hosting. That clearly states service was delivered to you.

Your developer’s statement of 30 days refund seems to be very generic with no base, As per our knowledge no India service provider do the same and even if someone is doing the same it’s not a regulatory requirement.

Dissatisfaction is more of a gap between expectations and deliverables and that can happen on any instance. Now keeping our commitments intact towards customer satisfaction we can extend the credit note of the equivalent amount that can be adjusted with any service offerings from us in future.

Regards

Sanjay Kathuria
Head - Online Business


In the above e-mail, he admits his company may have not lived up to my expectation, so why was he still not refunding the money? Here's my final e-mail in the drama..


The fact that so many trouble tickets needed to be raised BEFORE you people even officially were hosting my site speaks volumes about your service to begin with.

Are you seriously telling me that you think you provided me service because trouble tickets were attended to? I've admitted that only the Webmail issue was attended to and if all those trouble tickets raised over hosting were taken care of, I wouldn't be having this conversation with you.

(His quote) "Dissatisfaction is more of a gap between expectations and deliverables and that can happen on any instance. ...."

Which it definitely did in this case. Nice of you to admit that your service didn't live up to my expectations.

Manali

And here is what my developer had to say on the issue...

1] Enabling read/right access to file and folders IS NOT an add on feature.
2] You say the issues were resolved, it's still not resolved till date. Replying to a ticket doesn't mean (the problem) is resolved. Also you guys changed the status of the ticket to resolved as soon as you reply, how can you do that?

My advice is to stay away from this firm. Anyone not knowing and more importantly not caring about customer service behaves like this.. we deserve better.

An animated, immortal Indian love story

'Bhagmati - The Queen of Fortunes' is India's biggest ever animation film, which was released in 2005 amid much fanfare by producer Zee. It was held up as an example of India's prowess in coming out with a world class product. This 1 hour 35 minutes film, Bhagmati is being touted as the longest animation film ever made. But despite its Rs 5 crore budget, making it in India was atleast five times cheaper than anywhere else in the world.

The film depicts the historical romance between medieval prince Qutub Quli Shah of Golconda and a local beauty Bhagmati. The movie is made part in animation and part with living characters. Zee has released the movie in 50 screens across India and is planning an international opening in several languages in a fortnight. But for all that, this magical tale doesn't spell a fairytale ride for the industry.

Director of Bhagmati - Queen of Fortunes, Ashok Kaul told CNBC-TV18, "In India, in the global scheme of things, we don't factor anywhere because this industry doesn not exist. Just to give you a little background on how we started work on Bhagmati. When the project was commissioned, the problem was there were no animators."

For this movie, Zee was so starved for talent that it used a team 110 graduates from its own animation academy to painstakingly sketch the film's seven million plus frames! That is why Bhagmati has an international quality classic animation feel like an 'Alahadin' or 'Lion King'. But without the right artistic input, the result can look rather tacky, like in 'Krishna', which was released in November 2005.

Indian animation wants to do a 'Lion King' or a 'Finding Nemo' but often enough, it's hampered by lack of talented people to do such projects. So, unless Indian universities and colleges recognise animation as a subject, India will continue to languish and not become the artistic powerhouse it aspires to become.

Indian companies like Maya Entertainment and Toonz Animation are lapping up work outsourced by studios in the US, Britain, France, Italy and Germany but it's mostly 3D animation, like that used in 'Spiderman' and not the top level classical variety. Even Mumbai-based Crest Animation Studios, which just signed a multimillion dollars, three-movies deal with America's Lions Gate Entertainment says that manpower shortage is stifling growth.

CEO of Crest Animation Studios, AK Madhavan says, "The Indian universities don't recognise or do not even have a course in animation."

Nasscom says that by the end of 2005, animation in India will be growing at 30% a year would account for USD1.5 billion, while the global animation industry is pegged at USD52 billion! But dreams of this industry becoming the next BPO of India will remain just that - a dream without the necessary talent to go with it.

Written for moneycontrol.com

Discover what lies beneath

'Archaeology – Techniques and Methods’ is a must-have dictionary for archaeologists – both the budding and expert kind. The book is in an easy-to-read and understand format for the layman, who just wants to know what goes into looking for treasures belonging to lost cultures – especially after watching a gripping episode on Discovery Channel!

The alphabetized glossary style of the book makes it a simple task to just look for the word you have in mind. While the lucid way the words are explained is also a relief, for those who may be put off by the dull cover of this book. The author Harpreet Kaur has kept the book accessible to everyone with her idea of explaining archaeological terminology, but the publishers could have done a better job at proof-reading.

For instance, under ‘Mummified and Dried Human Tissues, Study’- this term has been explained well but Christian Era has been spelled as ‘Christian Eera’ – such typographical errors should have been looked into.

But this book, does give a dry subject a good shot at sustaining people’s interest by including fascinating facts like when excavators were digging at the site where the Roman city of Pompeii had once stood, and which was destroyed when the Mount Vesuvius volcano erupted – the excavators found lifelike casts of people. They found casts like that of a woman who was fleeing from the ashes and fumes and who died, while covering a part of her face with her clothing. She was discovered in exactly this manner, centuries later.

Harpreet Kaur has done her research well to unearth these jewel-like details, which will make for great dinner table snippets and conversation. If only, the book also had pictures of these statues – it would have added greatly to its visual appeal.

One rule that should be a must for books such as these – which are not exactly academic but is also not something people will pick up for light reading – is use as many visuals as you can possibly get your hands on. After all, one picture is equivalent to a thousand words – no matter how well written or well said.

Want Craig David and Dido all night long?

Those music channels, whose USP so far has been Hindi film music should wake up and smell the coffee because there is another opportunity waiting in the wings. MTV's sister channel VH1, which with its all-English and no veejay mantra is today a hit with its listeners. This is because niche channels are muscling to media planners notice and therefore, niche music channels can also make the most of this attention.

Though MTV made Hindi film music its mainstay in 1997, when it swept away a huge Indian audience, VH1 has reached its annual target of 12 million subscribers in just 10 months. It has also roped in 20 brands like Pepsi, Nokia, Samsung and Hyundai. The channel has no costs because it airs recycled, international music, no annoying veejays and little programming, this is one channel that is all about pure, unadulterated music. With this, the channel is looking at breaking even in the next two years.

A top source at VH1 told CNBC-TV18, "There are 120 odd channels addressing different market segments. There was this one segment, which was international music and it was going unaddressed and VH1 saw the gap there and came into the country at the right time. So we've hit upon the need gap and we are servicing it and it seems to be large enough so that advertisers also want to come on board and address them." But the honchos at VH1 will continue to want the channel to be more niche based because the market for English music and lifestyle ccontent is that much smaller currently. So the idea is that VH1 will remain India's only English music and lifestyle channel and MTV will be more broadbased.

Even though a broad player like MTV has seen a slight dip in growth, as compared to Channel V, people in the know admit that a channel like VH1 that purely plays music is going to have a high share but Channel V does not want to go down that route. They would prefer to position their channel as a youth product with great music being flanked by glamour and fun activities. All the same, media planners feel that all channels, including niche music channels will have to work to keep the eyeballs glued to their respective channels.

Written for moneycontrol.com

Endearing characters roll off his fingers

Vaibhav Kumaresh is playing God - in less than a week, he'll be breathing life into characters he is moulding for an ad shoot, for Cartoon Network. Like any other kid, Vaibhav doodled his way through school and only realised much later, that he could turn it into a profession thanks to a Visual Communication and Animation Design course at the National Institute of Design, NID, at Ahmedabad.

Today, Kumaresh has an impressive body of work. After Poga of MTV which won gold for the best animation at the Promax Asia Awards 2003, he went on to set up his own studio and more awards came his way. Since then, he's done the Amaron claymation commercials and created that lovable Sardar teacher, Simpu on Channel V.Today, this gifted animator is busy with a new project, every month or so.

He takes up only one project a month, so he can give it his complete attention. He confesses to being very happy doing all kinds of animation because it allows him to work with different mediums.But he also feels that comparisons between the Indian animation industry with Europe or the US is unfair because abroad, "animation is much older. Audiences have been exposed to it for a much longer time. People have been making films, learning from their mistakes, basically the process (abroad) is atleast 18 years old. And, its been around 15 years since animation has picked up as a profession in India. So, I think there is still a long way to go before we are as experienced in the medium as the West."

But is the quality of the animation coming out of India today, matching up to international standards, or are we putting out slipshod stuff? He says, "We haven't applied ourselves enought to long format storytelling and we haven't done it sincerely or consistently enough. So, it works both ways, we need to put in better effort and the infrastructure has got to improve."Keeping this in mind, what kind of work is being outsourced by Italian and French studios to India?

He explains, "There are different structures of studios operating in India. Currently, the more lucrative kind is the type that is totally running on outsourced work." After the awards and the recognition, he set up his own studio and he calls it the most happy moment in his life, well, possibly after his marriage though! He says, "It's definitely better, it's more independent. You are handling your own money and not someone else's money. In all aspects, creatively and financially, you get to work with the best people. Your planning projects that you really want to do and like to do."

The most important factor in any man's success is support from his family. His father pointed him in the right direction by telling him about the course at NID and even enrolling him in. Also, Kumaresh readily acknowledges his wife, Suranjana's role in giving him the space and the encouragement. She is also an NID alumni and she doubles up as partner and co-director in her husband's studio. When they aren't working, the two attempt to cook a meal together, though Kumaresh might just find animation that much easier! Animated movies are something else he likes to unwind with, and his favourite is ofcourse, the adorable 'Lion King'. He says this movie has got all the ingredients - style, characters and storytelling - just perfect.

Written for moneycontrol.com

Flaunt a yacht...if you can!

If you have the cash to spare and want to splurge on something that will make your neighbours go green with envy, then why not spend on a yacht? There are a number of people in India, who’ve decided to make this multi-million status symbol available to Indians who want to ride the waves with panache.

Firms like Sorenstam, Ocean Crest Marine, West Coast Marine, Marine Solutions, Navnit Marine, Royal Yachts and Cruisers, Ferreti Yachts and many more have all sprung up to fill a void in the burgeoning Indian market.

Some people have jumped into this tried and tested waters - like the skilled yachtsman Aashim Mongia of West Coast Marine. He loves the sea and joined the NDA. But a rare blood disorder threw his career off-course and he decided to go into business for himself. He initially did find the going tough but now feels that the good times are all set to roll and he’s happy to ride the wave of prosperity. But sometimes, it’s about providing a service that you realize is completely lacking, when one goes to buy a pleasure boat for yourself.

Riyhad Kundanmal of Ocean Crest Marine is doing just that. This trained architect has branched out into the yacht selling business because when he was looking to buy one for himself, he realized there was nothing remotely structured about the market in India. So, he decided to take the plunge, as it were, into an appealing and nascent business opportunity. He’s also selling these yachts along with some luxurious homes he’s designed as a kind of package deal.

So, how does one avoid pitfalls when buying something this expensive? Do your homework. So check out all the great cruising options at the Mumbai International Boat Show, which is on from February 28 till March 2, this year at the Gateway of India and the Bandra-Kurla Complex. Visit www.mumbaiboatshow.com for details.

You can also make a beginning by asking the right questions! Director of Marketing, Ocean Crest Marine, Rihyad Kundanmal answers some pertinent ones.

Q1. How many yacht buyers are there in India?
A1. With the emergence of Ocean Crest Marine in the yachting arena, yachting has suddenly become affordable to all. A sport that was once considered only for the elite few, has now emerged with yachts starting at under Rs 15 lakhs and which is delivered to your doorstep. What the Tata Group is doing with cars, Ocean Crest Marine is doing with boats. We’re making it affordable, especially considering that India sits along a vast coastline which has untapped potential and is virtually virgin to the yachting world. With over 1.5 billion people in the country, Ocean Crest Marine is targeting only 1% of that population - around 15 million to say the least.

Q2. Do you sell most outright or is there some EMI system in place? If yes, how much does an aspiring yacht owner have to cough up per month?
A2. Ocean Crest Marine is in the process of tying up with several finance companies to assist a potential customer with their finance needs. Besides the cost of a captain (starting at Rs. 6000 per month) and the fuel cost depending upon use, the boats are completely covered with a 5 year manufacturers warranty.

Q3. From where do you import them or are most of them custom-made in India to save costs?
A3. Being the importers of Marques Monterey and Formula Yachts (USA) - both brands having 5 year warranties - we are positioned to ensure that anyone and everyone has access to yachts. Safety, superior materials, advanced technology, economical yet powerful engines, and standard onboard equipment, that other manufacturers would consider as extra options, as well as the pricing, are the factors that Ocean Crest Marine stands for. Indian manufacturers unfortunately are too far behind with technology and understanding the needs of a ocean going vessel. It’s like comparing a Bentley of the seas to an antiquated Fiat!

Q4. Is there a time-share scheme for using them and if yes, how does it work? Please elaborate in terms of cost of fuel, services provided, usage etc.
A4. With a boat under Rs 15 lakhs (the cost of an entry-level car), it would not be prudent to get into time-share schemes. But boats that are over 40 - 50 feet. Ocean Crest Marine does charter their fleet for an average of about 4 hours and it costs in the range of approximately Rs 1.5-2 lakhs, which depends on the wines and catering required. Captains, deck-hands and fuel is included in the cost. Ocean Crest Marine is moving into the lodging world, whereby destinations are being set up across the country to make it viable for an adventurer to spend weekends with a purpose, rather than just cruise up and down the coast.

The Mumbai International Boat Show is organized by Ocean Blue which is a holding company that services yachts via its firm Ocean Blue Services and it also owns Ocean Blue Marinas, which is into developing marinas. Dr. Malav Shroff, Managing Director of Ocean Blue clarifies and says, “You don't need to be a member of the RBYC to get a mooring. The cost of mooring ranges between Rs 2000-5000 per month depending on the size of the boat.” Here he answers FAQs.
Q1. Does one need the permission or membership of the Royal Bombay Yacht Club or the Bombay Sailing Association to berth a yacht, which isn't easy to get. Can one berth their boats off Alibaug or Mandwa?
No, you cannot. However, it is a misconception that it is difficult to get a mooring for your boat through the RBYC. Anyone who buys a yacht can approach the RYBC to get a mooring. (Berthing is different from mooring). It is not mandatory to get permission from RBYC either, as actually, it is the Mumbai Port Trust who has authorized the RBYC to give these permissions. So, technically one can get mooring directly from MbPT. Registration of boats is through the MMB (Maharashtra Maritime Board)

Q2. What are the maintenance costs incurred? How steep are they and are experts available to help maintain them?
Maintenance costs range from 4 - 7% of the value of the yacht and increases with size and complexity. For eg. a 20 foot boat would be about 3 to 4 % p.a. while a 100 foot boat would be above 6 to 7% p.a. because it requires a permanent crew. The expertise is still evolving in the marketplace and is still in its infancy. There is still a long way to go to match international standards.

Q3. Where are the boats docked during the monsoons? Is there a special dry dock of some kind?
Smaller boats are dry docked on land and larger ones are sheltered in the protected waters of the Mumbai Port Trust.

Q4. So far, how many Indian customers have bought yachts from the dealers at your event?
In the region of about 200 - ranging from kayaks to super-yachts

Q5. Which yacht brands/models are popular with your Indian clientele? Are they what's considered 'happening' with foreign owners or are we miles behind them?
A5. The Formula and Monterey brands are considered one of the safest and most reliable in the world. What is in the international market is also in the Indian market. The Indian clientele is well advanced - having travelled the world - they are pioneers in trying things well before their foreign counterparts.

Q6. Can you give me some names of people you've sold yachts to?
A6. I could give their names, but unfortunately that would be unethical. Our yachts start at under Rs 15 lakhs and go up to over Rs 500 crore. It would not be fair to dwell into personal lives.

Q7. How much do you foresee a market for this aspirational purchase in India? Meaning, it's obviously not a volumes game, so how many yachts do you see yourself selling in a year?
A7. With Ocean Crest Marine making it affordable for all, we have in the last 3 months itself, sold over 47 yachts across the country. We anticipate our sales to cross well over a 100 units this year itself.

Q8. Lack of a marina is a big hindrance for yacht owners. Are you looking for some sops from the FM in this budget towards really developing the Western seaboard (specifically Mumbai)? If yes, what's on your wishlist?
A8. Fortunately, the boating arena is opening up for the first time with a concerted effort being put in to improve the dismal situation. Citizens are becoming aware of the need of (developing) the waterways due to the poor situation of the roads.

In order to improve the boating infrastructure, we would need to have breakwater barriers made along with suitable floating marinas, so as to make it safe for the passengers/owners to have access to the boats - not only throughout the coast, but within parts of the cities itself. For example, North Mumbai can become accessible to South Mumbai with the assistance of a marina because the traffic congestion in the city will be eased, and heavy expenses on the roadway infrastructure is saved. In addition to this, the government needs to either lower, or completely eliminate the import duty structure from the existing 35%, so as to make it viable for the consumer to opt for a boat for his daily commute, rather than be imposed with heavy taxes, which obviously discourages movement on waterways.

Along with this, the Government would need to work on marine falls near the sewage outlets, whereby the sewage itself will not be washed back ashore, but rather falls into the trenched, underwater pits.

Q9. What smart tips can you give to aspiring buyers? In terms of what to look out for and not get taken in by the glossy brochures and glib sales talk?

A9. Before buying a yacht or a boat, Ocean Crest Marine understands the needs and wants of the potential buyer, and then suggests a boat or a yacht that suits his/her needs. If one simply wanted to cruise the harbour; travel across the shipping channel; go on to the high seas or even for that matter, travel to international destinations, we would suggest something that would be the right choice.

Safety being the most prominent factor. Before handing over a yacht to a client, we hand over a qualified captain in addition to the training we impart to the buyer himself. Our part as the sales team is not to sell the yacht and feel that our work is done. On the contrary, our work only begins there, as we want to ensure that the after-sales service is far better than the sale deal itself.

Q10. In Mumbai, you need the permission or membership of the Royal Bombay Yacht Club or the Bombay Sailing Association to berth a yacht, which isn't easy to get. Can one berth their boats off Alibaug or Mandwa?
A10. It is a misconception that memberships are required to berth boats in the Mumbai Harbour. Memberships are encouraged and recommended, but not mandatory. The reason for memberships is to avail of the private slipway opposite the Taj Hotel, which has been leased to the Royal Bombay Yacht Club (RBYC), the Bombay Sailing Association (BSA) and the Colaba Sailing Club (CSC). Memberships indeed can be expensive and exclusive, but the Colaba Sailing Club has a one-time entrance fee of Rs 10,000-12,000 and an annual renewal fee of Rs 2,000-3,000. Memberships are open and available to anyone interested or keen on sailing. Non-members too can avail of the bay, but at the same time cannot use the private slipway or the facilities of the tender boat service to and from their yachts. They can use the non-private slipways at gate 2, 3 and 4 near the Gateway of India.

Boats can indeed be berthed off Mandwa as well, but once again, it is strongly urged to have membership(s) for any facilities needed. Once a member of any sailing or yachting institution - either in Bombay or Mandwa - the use of the Club tender boat is reciprocal.

Q11. What is the cost of these memberships?
A11. The RBYC costs Rs 5,00,000; the BSA Rs 1,00,000 and the CSC Rs 10,000-12,000. Not too expensive considering the cost of memberships available at any other reputed club or social institution in Mumbai.

A12. All of our yachts come with a full 5 years manufacturers warranty. So, besides the fuel and incidentals, everything else is covered for the first 5 years. The average maintenance costs for boats without a warranty are as follows:

The maintenance cost of a boat under 20 feet is approx 30,000-40,000 annually; 25 feet approx 1,00,000 annually; 30 feet approx 1,00,000 - 1,30,000 annually; 40 feet approx 2,00,000 annually; 50 feet approx 2,00,000 to 2,50,000 annually.

This is just the general service, maintenance, lifting, storage, transportation and cleaning charges. Damage or any kind of mechanical issues beyond the manufacturer’s specifications are additional.

Q13. Where are the boats docked during the monsoons? Is there a special dry dock of some kind?
A13. Ocean Crest Marine is in the process of setting up dry docks all over the country. But for the moment, space at Princess Docks is available for the larger yachts and the smaller ones will be stored on the grounds of Ocean Crest Estates boatyard at Mandwa and at the Ocean Crest Marines Drydocks at Dharamtar Creek. The costs for storage all work out within the annual maintenance costs. Special cradles, trolleys and slings are available to handle the yachts, when out of the water.

Q14. So far, how many Indian customers have bought yachts - from you and/or your competitors?
A14. Approximately 47 yachts have been sold by Ocean Crest Marine in the last 4 months itself. With the emergence of the yachting market now opening for the first time, we are hopeful that this year itself, we would cross numbers in excess of 150 units after our presence at the Mumbai and Dubai Boat show. Thereafter, when the set-up is complete across the country, with dealership networks in place, the yachting arena will see a rise in numbers.

Written for MoneyLife magazine

Buying a notebook sensibly

I’ve been discovering the pleasure of working from home or a coffee shop, and it beats the grind and monotony of working from an office. All you have to do is maintain the discipline and put in the regular hours. The time spent sitting in a traffic jam is so easily converted into a productive period of quality output.

So, I decided to forego full-time employment out of sheer exhaustion and slid into part-time work effortlessly. To work from anywhere and at my convenience, I went looking to buy a laptop. There are so many to choose from and to make an intelligent decision is tough.

Actually, I didn't have too much of a problem choosing because I was sure which brands I really wanted to own - it was a toss-up between the Sony VIAO and an HP product. (I think making up your mind firmly about the brands you want to eliminate for whatever reasons, is the smart way to go.) One may not like the size, styling, features and I did ask for feedback from friends who owned laptops.

I did initially want to buy the Sony VIAO but though sleek looking, I discovered it is on the larger side and I had feedback from a friend who owned one, that the in-built mouse felt slightly disconnected. Another friend swore by his Toshiba but said it was not a lightweight product at all. So, I was scouting for a smaller, easy-on-the arm yet stylish and branded product. I had seen some good-looking HP models in TV campaigns (TVC) and advertisements and decided to check them out. Their eye-catching ‘The computer is personal again’ TVC certainly influenced my decision.

I, therefore, stepped into a Hewlett-Packard (HP) store in my neighbourhood ‘Gigahertz Now’ and checked out some of the notebooks and tablet PCs on display there. They were all so much sleeker looking than the early bulky pieces I associated HP with. There was one in particular which caught my eye – a special edition DV 2601 TX model. This is a notebook with a shiny two-toned snazzy, abstract design on the body, weighs about 2.5 kilos and really neatly put together in a small package. It had tonnes of features like an in-built web camera, Bluetooth enabled (which segued wonderfully with my camera phone because I made sure they were compatible and hotfooting together!), a Windows Vista operating system and the picture clarity is truly 75 mm widescreen quality.

The price the dealer offered me was Rs 54,500 and I took my time to plunk down the cheque despite wanting the notebook badly before anyone else bought it because this special edition pieces were selling like hot cakes and there was a waiting list for them. (The dealer told me they had sold 15 pieces in a month by then) But then I checked with the Tata store - Croma – and they were selling the same model for Rs 52,990, but I would have to wait since they were all sold out. They also had tied up with ICICI Bank to give the bank’s debit card holders a 5% discount on purchases made in their store. So, all in all, I was going to get the same notebook for Rs 50,340, which was Rs 4,160 less than the HP dealer’s price.

So, I went back to my local dealer and told the sales manager, Payal Agarwal the result of my homework and she told me that she would offer me the same price but would not be able to offer me the 5% discount since she didn’t accept credit/debit card payments. But then she also told me that she was putting in all the additional software I had requested free of cost, which Croma will not do. So, buying the new Office Suite 2007 (not the demo or the pirated version) plus Adobe Photoshop would cost me around Rs 11,000 extra. So, if I went to Croma and bought the notebook, I would have come home with a bare-bones metal shell and then would have to put in all the juice at my cost, which would have cost me, finally, over Rs 60,000.)

I also would have to wait for my notebook. Payal had a fresh piece ready for me and that cinched it for me. I went to her to buy my notebook because she was giving me the additional software as freebie and plus was willing to give me Croma’s sticker price.

So, it does pay to weigh out all the pros and cons before buying anything, especially big-ticket items because what looks like a good deal may be deceptively so. There is no substitute for doing your homework and then spending your money in a smart, sassy manner, where you come out with a winning deal.

(The price of this model has come down a bit now but please remember I bought this in November last year, when it was first introduced in the market.)

Written for MoneyLife magazine

Thrillers that are a must-read

Do something different in the New Year. Instead of mindlessly partying in your leisure time, curl up at home with a hot cup of chocolate and some of these writers. Here are some of the thrilling authors who will leave you panting for more with their intricate plots and in-depth research. Travel the world with them on exciting journeys that even your imagination couldn't think of!

Steve Berry: This lawyer-turned-author has written five books with such fabulous plots – ranging from art history to Western mythology to actual historical facts that knit his books together. Start from ‘The Templar Legacy’ and move on to his latest ‘The Alexandria Link’.

Steve Berry is a Georgia based lawyer whose books have been more about art, Western history and art history than about law. So, he’s not followed in John Grisham’s footsteps but in Dan Brown’s shoes - at least where his first bestseller was concerned – The Templar Legacy. This book has so much fast paced action thrown in with superbly researched facts about a secret society called the Knights Templar, which did actually exist.

Steve Berry looks into the Templar’s own history and the fact that this society was forced to go underground by the Church and generations of vengeful popes because they really didn’t concede that Christ was the divine saviour after all. To them, Christ was just another human preacher - that he lived and died like a mortal human and was not a immortal son of God. And they can prove this fact. How? Well, that’s the plot of this book!

There is treasure to be found and everyone is trying to get to it for their own agenda. And they have to do it via complicated epigrams and maps which point the way. It is high stakes danger and thrills all the way till the very end.

Mary Higgins Clark: She’s the modern day answer to Agatha Christie. All her books have been topping bestselling lists and with good reason. Her tight plotting and with believable characters who fight all odds to win against psychopaths, will leave you breathless. Mary Higgins Clark is the right person to have inherited the crown of the 'Queen of the Suspense Novel' from Agatha Christie.

Her books have great penetrative psychology and they are about issues plaguing us these days - kidnappings, rapes, murders. What's more, her perpetrators are not always the poor, disenchanted scum-of-the-earth kind of people and her victims don't always deserve what's been done to them. There are no stereotypes in her novels.

In the book 'No Place Like Home', the assumed murderer is a child and she's carried the 'perceived' guilt of having killed her own mother for almost 20 years, when only she knows how her mother died because the only other witness is her stepfather, who implicates her in the first place.

Then as an adult, her husband buys her a house as a present and it turns out to be the same one she lived in and in which her mother was killed. So, she's got haunted memories associated with it. So, does she battle with old ghosts? Does she clear her name and convince people of her innocence? Or is someone still out to paint her as a killer and why? Enjoy this book.

Clive Cussler: His books are for the marine aficionados. The plots are better than Ian Fleming’s and he does do research on marine archaelogy, underwater technology and exploration, the latest military and defense wizardry and he really explores the country he situates his stories in.
Clive Cussler’s books sell out as soon as they hit the stands and that is because he knows how to keep the action moving at breakneck speed. After reading his books, you will think Ian Fleming’s James Bond is so tame!

He’s written close to 30 books and all of them are worth reading. But lately he’s introduced a fresh crew of heroes. They operate from a hi-tech ship called the Oregon and which carries a helicopter, speedboats, weapons and a magic shop – a Hollywood kind of design studio that can come up with anything from costumes to latex face masks – the kind that Tom Cruise used in Mission Impossible 2.

This ship is run by a firm called The Corporation and it offers its services out to wealthy clients and governments who need their expertise. They fight the bad guys and so don’t work for terrorists. The ship is captained by an ex-CIA man called Juan Cabrillo and he’s put together the best team under him. So, with such a great backup cast, ‘The Sacred Stone’ makes for a fantastic read. To tell you more would be to ruin it for you, so just grab a copy now!

Ken Follett: His espionage novels are superb. His books will grab you by the seat-of-your-pants and leave you stunned. Ken Follett’s books are heavy on espionage and in one of them he’s also brought up the issue of corporate spying as well. Recommending any one book to read is difficult but ‘Code to Zero’ is a great way to begin.

It’s got a sexy rocket scientist for a protagonist and his gorgeous wife and what everyone thinks is their perfect life. But as the saying goes, looks can be deceptive and that is just the case here. There are military secrets that are being leaked and no one knows who is doing it and there is a top secret rocket launch that has to go off without a hitch. So, will it happen or will the spy get away with a catastrophic interference? And more importantly, who is the spy?

Read the book to find the answer to all these questions and more. Follett’s books are so much more thrilling than boring everyday life – even though the thrills are between the pages of a fabulous book!

Globetrot with soul-sisters

If you are an experienced woman traveller who knows how to traipse around the world like a pro but yet there are moments when you just don’t want to be around members of the opposite sex because you are recovering from a broken heart or some illness, then there is another opportunity for you.

Ofcourse, first-time solo female travellers would jump at the idea of the WOW Club, The word ‘Wow’ standing for Women on Wanderlust. This Club conducts women-only tours and was started in 2005 by an intrepid globetrotter, Sumitra Senapathy. She’s bitten by the travel bug and has been to most places on the world map as she points out on her website http://www.wowsumitra.com/ She’s written about her sojourns as well in many publications.

She realized that women were looking to expand their horizons and were willing to step outdoors without spouses/boyfriends/part-time lovers dogging their shadow. So, that’s just what she gives them. Foreign jaunts with the least amount of male interference!

This year she’s is doing trips to Egypt, Ladakh, Italy, Turkey, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Budapest and Poland. In the past, she’s taken people to South Africa and Egypt as well and in the future she may include China on her itinerary. So, far her ‘travellers’ congregate at meeting points like Mumbai and Delhi and then fly out together. She’s going to add Bangalore to this list soon.

But her tours are not cheap because as she says, her club is “situated between the Fiat and Mercedes price points”. So, she may not be as expensive as Cox and King and Thomas Cook but she doesn’t do bare-bones budget tours either because she admits “Indians are not ready for backpacking kind of trips.”

So, a trip to Egypt which has already taken off on February 14 this year costs around Rs 1,35,000 not including the costs of domestic flying or hotel expenses (if they have to stay overnight for any reason) that people will have to do if they are coming in from other parts of India to the point of embarkation – either Delhi or Mumbai. All in all, these trips will come out to cost almost as much as bigger travel agencies charge.

The difference being that the big tour operators factor in all these costs into their packages and take care of everything for you. All you have to do is show up on the appointed day! The WOW Club, on the other hand has to differentiate in some way from the more established names so Sumitra has plans to introduce memberships to her club.

She told me that it would cost each member Rs 3,500 and it will be valid for 3 years. Members will get a 2% cash discount and will enjoy preferred pricing on select lifestyle products/services. She’s also going to organize discounted trips of a shorter duration (2-3 days) for her members. There are also plans for her club members to enjoy, for instance, six wine evenings in three months and other such events in various cities. She says this would be a great way for her regulars to bond and meet, after having met up on her tours for the first time. She also added that the WOW Club is popular with a lot of NRIs, who have taken her tours with their relatives.

So, if you are interested in hotstepping abroad with some soul-sisters, then join this club at http://www.wowsumitra.com/contact_us.htm and enjoy a rollicking time.

Caffeine addiction will soon be the new high

Coffee bars will soon be the hot new dating spots, what with international chains like Costa and Starbucks gearing to come into India. UK's Costa will be the first one in, and is going to open its first store in New Delhi. While Starbucks is finalising a franchisee partner.
Thailand-based Coffee World owned by GFA is also set to tantalise tastebuds. So, homegrown brands like Barista, Qwiky's and Cafe Coffee Day have perked up and are on an expansion drive.

A private study says there is potential for five-fold growth in coffee outlets over the next two years. CEO of Barista, Partha Dattagupta told CNBC-TV18, "Maybe 60% of the outlets that we plan to start this year would go into saturation in existing markets. The balance 40% will necessarily take us into new grounds. Gor example, in the West (India), today we are not present in markets like Goa, Surat, Indore or Bhopal, which are on our radar."

Each chain is looking at anything between 30 to 300 outlets across the country and are going to adopt different retail, marketing and positioning strategies. Starbucks expects to hardsell its brand of coffees at a slight premium, while Costa plans to play on price points - taking the competition straight into Barista and Cafe Coffee Day's turf. A franchisee for Costa Coffee, Ravi Jalpuria explains, "Price-wise we are lookng at what's affordable and what people in India can afford."

But most chains still don't have enough of a national presence or high enough margins to justify mass media advertising. Instead, they are relying on in-store cross-brand promotions, film tie-ups, merchandising and live bands that have helped spread the word.

Some like Coffee World has even signed on a brand ambassador. CEO of Coffee World, Anoop Sequeira, "Considering the fact that we are late entrants in India, we certainly had to speak out and to a large extent, the brand, the product and the quality of your service will speak out to the consumer. But, at times, you want to pick up a faster pace of communication, that's where an endorsement fits in and that's why we looked at Esha Deol."

Meanwhile, local players don't want to be caught napping, so, Barista has launched a lounge under a sub-brand called Barista Creme that targets premium customers. Others, like Mocha and Cafe Coffee Day have also introduced coffee lounge formats. Barista is also said to be working on a takeaway model called 'Coffee on Wheels'. The increased competition could also see some local players sell out to larger, global entrants.

Both, Starbucks and Costa have deep pockets and are already on a poaching spree, with Barista's marketing head moving to Costa. This will also ensure better levels of service because Starbucks spends almost 2% of its revenue on employee training. So, Indian coffee chains will need to put similar training models in place to keep customers coming back for more.

Written for moneycontrol.com

PS: When this story was written, none of the foreign brands were in the country yet. Since then, Costa has opened shop at Juhu, Mumbai. Here's looking forward to the rest coming in and preferably in locations across South Mumbai as well. After all, I'm all in favour of gourmet coffees but not at the expense of sitting in traffic for 2 hours to get to enjoy it...all the way in the suburbs!

Innovation: Do it alone or with a team?

Innovation in business can be learned everywhere and from anyone. Even well known sportspeople have innovated and re-invented themselves into some big-time brand names. Skateboarder and founder, Birdhouse Skateboards, Tony Hawk is one such person.

He's built a huge business and made his fan base into his very own customer base. The people who used to look up to him as a champion skateboarder, now buy his line of skateboards and other skating related merchandise and he credits his team for this. He says they understand the skateborading culture and come up with ideas that enhance his business.

There are ofcourse, businesses which need to hire the right kind of people who can see eye to eye and this is something that CEO of Socratic Arts, Roger Schank endorses, that people should be allowed to work from wherever they feel most comfortable and if that is from home or a coffeeshop, then so be it. He told CNBC, "Sometimes, the best innovation happens over lunch."

This man's business idea may literally have popped up in his mind over just such a lunch! He was so frustrated over the huge margins that office supplies retailers charged that he decided to go into business for himself. Founder, Staples, Tom Stemberg says, "One of the things when we talk about innovation is that you kind of get the idea that innovation is about a bunch os people sitting in a room and thinking of ideas in a padded cell. In reality, most great ideas actually come from your customer."

"It's not just people sitting around but your people on the frontline, talking to your customer and in great organisations, that kind of feedback gets back to the core, and you get great new ideas and form great new businesses." He feels the real challenge is to make keep people motivated and retain them.

Schank feels that the big problem today, in large businesses is, when people making decisions are not aware of other people in the same organisation, making similar decisions. So, this lack of coordination results in what he calls "loss of corporate memory", in big organisations.

He also asks a vital question, that of "are we capturing the experience of the baby boomers who are being phased out?" These are the very people who may have a memory of a deal being made and they could pass on their experience and knowledge to the younger lot of workers coming in.

Stemberg also feels that people should not go into other countries assuming that theirs is the only way to go about innovation and that people other countries should just follow the same steps, because what works in the US may not work in England or Canada. Stemberg recalls that his store, Staples, took off in Europe, only when they were headed by Europeans, who obviously understood their core customers.

The real reason for innovation is the desire for growth and most companies have realised that, looking beyond their own walls (and sometimes beyond geographical boundaries) is necessary because usually if there is a problem, then it has been noticed that someone across the world had already spotted it and found a way to solve the problem, but the rest of the world is unaware about it!

So, some experts feel that innovation is really a collaborative sport. But Schank, ever the contrarian feels that it's not a team sport but "it's a sport driven by a common need to solve a problem and that's the only real issue you need to bond on."

He adds, "Innovation comes with experience. You need a guy with a big ego because he's the one who will come up with the big, new idea and then fight for it. The rest of the team should buy into the idea, so they can help him build on the idea."

Written for moneycontrol.com

How technology makes life simple & fun

Do you like being confused? Ofcourse not, but scientists like being confused because it makes them think about things but businesses run a mile away from the very idea of confusion because it upsets the applecart for them. So, what do they do? Socratic Arts, CEO, Roger Schank feels businesses should appreciate confusion because it leads to new ideas. He told CNBC, "When everyone in your company agrees on the question, innovation is possible."

Some businesses have changed the way we live and Illy Coffee is one of them. CEO, Illy Coffee, Andrea Illy comes from a illustrious family with coffee running in his veins. His grandfather, Francesco Illy was the first person to invent the espresso machine and at one time, the company held 17 patents. For more than 70 years, Illy Coffee has been at the forefront of innovation.

And then there is CEO, On Demand Books, Dane Neller who has made it possible to print, trim and bind paperback books at a penny a page, with the help of his espresso book machine. This has made it possible for him to print only a single copy of any book. He has plans to use the vast reservoir of written content available, that can be printed anywhere in the world.

Both these men have made consumers their focal point and made sure that their respective businesses keep that in mind. Neller says, "In our case, the consumer wants the product cheaply and immediately. And that's what we are delivering with our book machine. You can get any book now, at any time at a fraction of the time. So, in the end, the consumer is king and that determines what your technology is going to do."

Window-shopping at Ralph Lauren

Just how much more fun shopping can be made is proved by Ralph Lauren. The ace designer's 25,000 sqft Manhattan store has put up an innovative touchscreen on its store window. So, as people walk by, the touchscreen grabs their attention and they can touch and call up merchandise. Right now, they have only their range of tennis clothing up but this is going to expand to their casual wear as well.

The screen is a transparent sheet right on their huge store window and people can browse as well as buy the clothes standing right there, without even having to step into the store at all! With a credit card swipe machine also fixed onto the window just beside the touchscreen, this use of technology has given window shopping a whole new twist!

Senior Vice President at Ralph Lauren, David Lauren is impressed with the way people have taken to this concept, that he plans to extend to all the other stores.

Schank feels the same way about Illy developing better and better espresso machines, so, that people can enjoy the same great cup of coffee at home, as they would do in Italy! And this is a espresso fan expressing his desire. So, this is the kind of consumer feedback that makes technology get user-friendly, so that eventually, everybody has access to it and can learn how to use it.

Similarly, there are other inventions in the works that could prove revolutionary, and one of them is RFIDs, which is chip that carries information about each and every product it can be embedded into. It has no battery or keyboard. When it hears a radio signal, it lights up and sends out a serial number. So, if accepted by everyone, it could do away with barcodes and barcode scanners for good. It will become the easiest way for packages to say 'who' they are and 'where' they are! Ultimately, this could lead to change in supply chain, supermarkets and payroll processes.

This is a way of using technology to enhance our own efficiency. But Schank also sees this as something that will build communities and it is something that will help with education. He feels that a virtual world like Second Life, that was created by the CEO, Linden Lab, Philip Rosedale has the potential to teach students about entrepreneurship while they are still studying in school. It can help a law student practice law before he/she even hits the street, looking for their first job.

So, in the sense of defining what innovation truly means, then creating a memorable experience as well as changing the way the world interacts, this invention - a virtual world - is truly going to be the way forward for the way people and technology interact.

Written for moneycontrol.com

Read more stories here:
Watch what customers do
Innovating to stay in the fast lane
Do you have to fail to innovate

Shahrukh Khan portrayed him in Swades

CEO and Founder, SKS Microfinance, Vikram Akula believes that business should always have a soul and should make a real difference to the life of people and not just its shareholders. Let's catch up with Vikram Akula, who made it to the Time magazine's list of people who will shape our future.

Reel life does sometimes imitate real life. Remember Shahrukh Khan's character in Swades? He does what Vikram Akula did with his life - give back to the country and make opportunities available to the last man or woman - often the most-neglected.

Vikram Akula decided to make his matrabhoomi his karmabhoomi, which may sound like pop-patriotism. After all, how often does one see a graduate from Yale, a scholar who gave up on the American dream for an Indian one. But that's exactly what Vikram did; he first came to India in the early 1990s and worked with an NGO and finally in 1998 launched Swayam Krishi Sangam or SKS - an NGO to provide economically underprivileged women in the Telangana region an entrepreneurial opportunity.

So, how did his NGO really start and what gave him the impetus to do something in India. He told CNBC-TV18, "There are images from my experience in India that will forever stay with me and there is one story in particular, I was about seven years old at that time, visiting my aunt and my aunt bought pots from a woman. She was dressed in a torn sari and she had a child of about my age."

"So, as children we did make a connection, while this sale was going on and after my aunt bought the pots, she then gave rice to this woman and the woman put out her sari and my aunt poured the rice into it and then my aunt left. About 20-30 grains of rice fell on the floor and then she pressed her fingers on the floor and literally picked up each grain and for me that was the first time in my life, that I really understood what it means to be hungry. For them 20 grains of rice really made a difference. Although, that was at a particular moment but images like that stayed with me and somehow said to me, that at a certain point I need to go back."

That's when he realized that something needed to be done for Indians. He says, that charity is not what people want but an opportunity to make things happen for themselves, and that has been his career's work. So that is really how is started his micro-finance business.

He explains, "My first experience with a traditional NGO was one that was doing a number of different activities - education, health, environmental work. So, I had enough to do – it was a kind of a learning in different aspects of the work and after that experience, the key takeaway for me was that economic development was the single most important thing needed. Not that it is the end of development, but it was the anchor on which everything else hinged. So, that was when I decided after that first year and a half, that this is the piece that I like to focus on."

"Then I came back again and this time I was working in micro-finance and the key takeaway from that experience was that micro-finance is important, but the way the NGOs were doing micro-finance was incredibly slow and inefficient and that is when I said, that there is got to be a better way to do micro-financing, and then I founded SKS in 1998."

Then in 2005, he converted it from an NGO into an NBFC. But how was his first sales pitch, when he had to get bankers on board, to participate in his vision? He says, he was rejected by many as no one would give them the time of the day. And these were the very same regional rural banks, who were in business to lend money to the rural people.

Akula says he was laughed at and these bankers called him a foolish American and this was not how business was done. But, today he has 2, 30,000 lakh clients and Rs 50 crore has been disbursed so far and he's looking to scale this up to 7 lakh clients and give away Rs 700 crore across 10 states, in 2007.

Vikram's dream is ambitious but he is confident because he believes in what he's doing, which is empowering women – he is not lending to men – because "women tend to invest profit back into their households. So, if you are looking to make an impact on a household, they are the ones who bring money back, invest it in their household and women atleast in rural areas, tend to be better entrepreneurs. They are slightly more risk averse than men are, they are slightly more careful with how they manage money. So, their projects tend to succeed more often than not."

"We have disbursed about Rs 436 crore in the last year. We have got about 163 different activities that women are involved with. One popular one is lifestock - selling milk at the weekly market and repaying a loan at the end of it – so, having a buffalo is an asset. Other activities are small kirana stores - they will buy stock from the local town and sell it at fairly high margins – so, they can earn a significant return on their investment."

Akula's policy of only lending to women also works out in another way, as SKS has seen a 98% repayment rate. He claims that SKS provides the lowest cost financing to the poor, with the exception of a subsidized government loan. For a loan of Rs 10,000 the borrower will end up paying Rs 200 a week on the principle and Rs 25 as the interest.

He's on the Time magazine list and he sees it as an affirmation of his work and says, "This is the right way to help our country get out of poverty. I very much feel in the end that I love this country and love the work that I do. This country has tremendous potential and this is one way to release that potential."

Written for moneycontrol.com

Watch what customers do: Schank

Are customers really aware of what they want and should businesses be listening to them at all? CEO, Socratic Arts, Roger Schank told CNBC that this management concept is overhyped far too much. He feels people are so confused about what they want in a girlfriend, or what kind of home they want or even what they want from their life, why would they be so clear about other things! He emphasizes, "Don't listen to what your customers say, watch what they do. See what they do in real life. Observation is everything.

He adds, "Experiences are about learning and people love to learn because they are growing and changing. Customers don't know what they need. It's important to know what the real issues are and asking your customer may not be the right way to do it."

People didn't know they needed a cellphone or a computer, but now it's part of everyone's lives. This goes for all the gadgets that today makes our lives so much simpler (or complicated, as some people believe). So, asking a person 20 years ago, if he wanted a PC would have led to a simple "No" or "What for?" But the PC is here today. The thing is to ask new questions or put questions in a different manner, so you get different answers.

CEO, Moen, Richard Posey is heading a company that produces fashionable plumbing products. From the ultra-sleek faucets to shower heads..Moen's got all that and more. His is such a research focused company that he admist to watching people shower or generally use their products, so that they can get some good feedback!

He says, "We use this information and see how people interact with our products, and use this insight to develop our products. But we look at other information - our own knowledge of the market, our own instincts and then say, this is what we should do."

But CEO & Founder, SKS Microfinance, Vikrum Akula agrees with Schank and says, that even he finds that people don't say actually say what they want. Though CEO ebay, Meg Whitman, says that a lot of ebay customers tend to be entrepreneurs thenselves and ebay keeps an eye on them. (Read a complete profile on him here: Shahrukh Khan portrayed him in Swades)

For instance in 1999, her colleagues suddenly noticed a lot of demand for die-cast car models and brought it to her notice. Then suddenly, real cars soon started listing. And now ebay Motors is the biggest revenue earner for ebay.

Schank feels ebay is still evolving, so no one knows where it's headed, while Moen, is in the business of showerheads, which have been around for a long while now. So, what is new, that is going to come out from this company...that is something, that is not going to come from customers.

Grameen Gives!

The Grameen Bank is a co-operative bank which is an example of what one man's vision can accomplish. Mohammed Yunus is the only economist to have won a Nobel Peace prize but then he deserves it for the immense social responsibility movement, he has single-handedly started in Bangladesh. He saw that pithy economic concepts were not making a difference in the lives of his poor countrymen What they wanted was hard cash to tide them over. So, he started handing money out from his own pocket to people to start their own businesses and this included women entrepreneurs as well.

Women are considered by most banks as being high risk borrowers, so they didn't loan money to them. But Yunus's own experience is that women make for better borrowers, as they have consistently repaid Grameen Bank. Also, he knows that money in a woman's hand is channeled into her household, and more importantly, her children's education and future.

So, in making a difference in so many people's lives, Yunus has a social revolution in the making that will, hopefully, lift his countrymen out of the clutches of stark poverty. Yunus admits that in the future he wants Grameen Bank to be known as the 'bank of the former poor.'

This is his dream for Bangladesh but it's a dream that Vikram Akula also has for poor Indian women, who struggle for a living in rural India as well. Well, more power to such social entrepreneurs!

Posey did see what his customers wanted and came out with a line of safety, bath products. So, his company designed a shower seat for elderly or injured people, where the soap, the wash cloth were easily handy and the hand shower could also be kept where it could be reached easily.

So, his company does watch customers...literally! And, the fact is that customers can not be discounted completely and there are some customers who are trendsetters and they should be observed to see how soon they are copied by the mainstream.

This is happening more quickly than ever because of the smaller time lag involved and also because of the new media like the internet, which is making trends available to a larger audience, much sooner.

Written for moneycontrol.com

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Innovating to stay in the fast lane

Do you have to fail to innovate

Innovating to stay in the fast lane

How are big, monolith companies gearing up for life in the corporate fast lane? Companies like P&G, Toyota, Dell and Apple are either innovating and fast at that or just stagnating and losing pole position to their closest rivals - like Ford, which has been overtaken by Toyota in the US because it's not giving customers what they want, while Toyota is doing just that.

At Procter & Gamble, innovation is a bit of an obsession and Larry Houston is the man in charge. As Vice President of Innovation, he was in charge of generating ideas outside the company. A testimony to how well he does his job, P&G has been called the 'World's No.1 Brand Company'.

Then there is Travelocity that has revolutionised the travel industry. Terry Jones is the man behind the success of this travel portal. He's worked with American Airlines and then moved to American Airlines-owned Sabre - the world's first computerised reservation system. From there, he launched Travelocity - the world's first consumer direct travel services. Today, he gives his expertise to other companies making their transition to the digital economy.

Jones says that there were a lot of obstacles, in terms of inertia that needed to be overcome and there were people getting in the way. So, he told CNBC's Maria Bartiromo, "It's was really important that I was high up in the organisation, who had some clout, who reported to the CEO, so we were able to move them out of the headquarters and move them somewhere else."

Houston recalls that P&G's CEO AG Lafley told him to get innovative ideas from outside the company because most companies try to invent everything themselves, when there is tremendous talent all over the world. What's more is that P&G is willing to put money where the idea is.

But most large businesses seem stymied by the New Age technology revolution and can not seem to put their businesses on the fast-track to growth, despite being in the forefront. And that's partly because of traditions, which, the CEO of Socratic Arts, Robert Schank, feels is a not a good thing because then a company feels bound by its rules and traditions.

Traditionally, the big three car companies in the US have been General Motors, DaimlerChrysler and Ford. But now, Japanese carmaker Toyota has zoomed past Ford and is snapping at General Motors' heels. This year, almost 70 million cars, SUVs and trucks are going to be built around the world - almost 8,000 every hour - and Toyota is expected to build the most.

The secret to Toyota's success is its production system, which is also called TPS. It was created decades ago, and calls for constan improvement from planning, to assembling to sales. What they have going for them is that they are very creative, they also have a very educated workforce and great engineers.

Other companies who are learning from Toyota are Boeing, Ford, Caterpillar and even Nike. Consultant, Bill Schwartz says, "The real success of the Toyota production success is that it can be applied to any company because at its core, it's about eliminating waste. Eliminating waste in production or business process."

One of the latest innovations in the Toyota production system is that, at the end of the assembly line, when all the cars are built, they are taken to a sound booth so that the cars actually 'sound' the way they are supposed to!

Experts in the know, feel that even established companies can innovate if they get their hide-bound processes and decisions out of the way and became agile and nimble. But a leading expert in business strategy, Gary Hamel feels that large corporations do not have the "innovation DNA" but they can be taught the skills - the way Apple or Dell does it. Seconding him, Schank says that, CEOs don't have the motivation to innovate and don't want to innovate.

Hamel adds, "One of the things we know about innovators is that they are contrarians - that's the reason why so often the industry gets changed by outsiders. The real thing that inhibits innovation is the top management's prejudices, biases and assumptions about how to run the business."

"Innovation is like everything else in business - you have to be able to do it efficiently and cheaply - and that means borrowing ideas from outside." He does feel that old dogs can be taught new tricks, if they are willing to learn from their mistakes and make the necessary changes required.

Written for moneycontrol.com

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Do you have to fail to innovate