Inspiring Young Minds

TEXT SIZE : A | A | A

AFG Venture Group Chairman Peter Church has just launched his third book Added Value (Roli Books), based on the lives of 30 Indian industrialists. The Australian businessman says the book is an outcome of years spent working in south east Asia and India. His earlier books include A Short History of South East Asia and Added Value - The Life Stories of Leading South East Asian Business People. Church says he chose to deviate the focus from the Tatas and the Ambanis and bring the spectrum on the other talented individuals. In a conversation with Laisram Indira at the launch of Added Value in Melbourne, Church says the book also provides valuable insights to those looking for tie-ups and investment in India.Excerpts

Why did you choose to write on Indian businessmen?
I have been involved with India since the 1980s and particularly over the last 10 years. I saw that there were many wonderful stories waiting to be told and which are now much more relevant for the international audience with India going global. The book spans generations, systems and geographical areas and shows not only the change in business but the change in the essence of business thinking and business structures.

For Australians wanting to do business, this book will give some idea about what it is about to be an entrepreneur. Half the people in the book are what you called toppers. But I want to make sure that young people realise that it is not always so. There is young Ragunathan in the book. He said, ‘I used to play chess with my brothers and never won. I was always struggling as a kid, did not speak English, I used to barely pass in my exams and I was shy.’ Now this guy is big.

What was the selection based on?
It was based on their added value to the business fabric of India and they have had clean reputations. I got diplomats and a number of Indian business friends to independently give me a list of 20 or 30 people and then I looked at the list and there was a lot of commonality.

They must have been easily accessible…
Yes. I didn’t have any challenges (laughs). I guess I had done previous books so they could check my credentials that I was just not somebody who would say one thing and do something different. In fact, six of the publishers I had approached wanted it – I think because publishers think there is an audience for it and most of the people were very amenable, particularly because I was not doing it as a journalist. I did send the transcripts to them for their approval.

Is it true that you spent an hour each with all of them?
No it went for a couple of hours. The longest was Capt Krishnan Nair, it took four-hour meeting because his life and career have been so long.

Did you say Kishore Biyani was the most reticent?
No, I said he was the most difficult to interview because as he said in the book he is more concerned about the future than the past. Everybody else was quite happy to talk about their childhood but I would say he is a relatively shy man and doesn’t have a lot of time for talking about the past. But it took over a while to drag it out of him. It was all done in one meeting though. In the end, he did understand what I was trying to do and he did open up.

Which story would you say stands out as the most inspirational?
I believe they are all inspirational in their own way. I think there is a set of character traits that contribute to success. All of them span generations, systems and geographical distances but at the end of the day they have all succeeded. Their stories reveal how business not only has changed from the license raj, but the change in the essence of business thinking and business structures.

Why have you included just two women – Kiran Majumdar Shaw and Shanaz Hussain?
This is a criticism I have faced. But these two women – their stories are remarkable. Shaw stayed in Ballarat brewing in the 1980s. Now she is probably the leading biotech person in India. Hussain’s story is amazing too. She was raised in very conservative background, married off at 15 years of age and she grew a cosmetic empire with her father’s words hanging over her, ‘You have an obligation to make somebody else’s life worthwhile’.

M.S. Swaminathan is not a businessman, but he is the list?
Because I think he has added to the whole business fabric of India through the work he has done in food. Yes, he is not an entrepreneur or a businessman but he has revolutionised agriculture. So in that sense, he fits in with the spirit of the book, if not the classical pattern.

Is the Indian business culture different from Australian businesses?
Yes, I think it is different. I think we are all a product of our environment in terms of where we come from and where we have gone to. Many of these people came from joint families, many of them had arranged marriages and many came from dynastical families, which we don’t really have in Australia. But in terms of the business or businesses they are in, there is obviously a commonality in terms of India its competitive environment now as you don’t have the license raj anymore.

What is your target audience?
I believe it is for two audiences – one is business people wanting to do business in India and particularly those that may want to do businesses with companies that these entrepreneurs are involved with. The second audience is young people – Indians and others to sort of read the backgrounds and experiences that these people have gone through which provides, hopefully, some guidance to them in terms of making a decision: are they really entrepreneurs or not; what are the key things that they will encounter; and do they have the characteristics of an entrepreneur. That is where I deal with.

What is the one message for budding entrepreneurs and businessmen?
Have you got the timing right?

Any future projects?
I will just recover from this one first. I must say I enjoyed doing this book. I thought when I started this book or when I was halfway through this was the last book I would do. Who knows there is another book there. It took me two-and-half years to complete the book but that was because I was doing my other work as well.