Enterprising careers

The ideas bouncing around were certainly innovative — a factory for manufacturing Stirling engines for Stirling Dish Systems to produce solar energy, a fabrications company, an outsourcing firm in the field of accounts, a meat processing/sausage making unit, juice centers for mocktails and attendant snacks, an aerated water bottling plant, embroidery exports, an infrastructure company to manage community assets, live music concerts and recordings…

Keeping in mind the oft-heard litany that Zoroastrians have lost their entrepreneurial spirit, the World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce-India (WZCCI ) Mumbai Chapter organized their first Young Entrepreneurs Programme (YEP ) from June 12-18, 2006 at the Nehru Science Centre at Worli in Bombay. Eleven enterprising people put forth their nascent ideas to make business their profession.

To help them keep their feet on the ground, the WZCC had lined up an array of professionals in various fields to add to the budding businessmen’s knowledge base. The techniques and pitfalls of preparing a project report, legal requirements and tax forms, insurance and risk management, venture capital, recruiting, training and retaining personnel, value-based pricing, bank finance for SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) and women entrepreneurs – the topics were diverse. Complementing course director Dr N. H. Atthreya’s weighty yet lively inputs were Prof Faredoon Kapadia, Meher Gazdar, Homi Mullan, Minoo Shroff, Behram Dastur, Farrokh Rustomji, Kersi Limathwalla, Dolly Dhamodiwala, Aspi Katgara, Nadir Modi, Piran Doctor, Pheroze Patel, Cyrus Bagwadia, Cyrus Driver, and several others.

Sharing stories of their personal success in business and the hurdles en route were Feroze Sethna, Dr Roshan Ghaswalla, Shavak Bhumgara, Urvaksh Hoyvoy, Vispy Mistry… On the WZCC core team for the Programme were Yazdi Tantra, Mullan, Dhamodiwala, Sethna, Gazdar, Hosi Charna and Dogdau Mehta, with leadership provided by WZCCI president Shroff and Mumbai Chapter chair Limathwalla.

After six days of brainstorming, the would-be entrepreneurs made their summaries on the 18th, illuminated on occasion by powerpoint presentations.

Meher Modi’s aim is to set up a factory for manufacturing Stirling engines in India primarily for servicing the manufacture of Stirling Dish Systems to produce solar energy. "We are collaborating with a foreign and an Indian partner on this and initial responses have been positive. The main market will be the rural areas and people/buildings which have space and want an offgrid/backup electrical power solution,” Modi told Parsiana. "My expertise comes in conceptualizing and marketing the idea. The whole project is based on economies of scale and the initial Stirling engines for the product will have to be imported into India,” adds the young man who "likes working on new ideas,” is also a navar, has done his MBA from a college in Bombay and is currently employed with a start-up chemicals/metals company.

"Our company’s name has been registered successfully as Fusion Fabricators Private Limited. We have rented a place of around 1,000 sq ft at Ghatkopar (in Bombay). We are about to start the set up of the unit and production by October,” says Meher Billimoria. With experience in a leading industrial house, Billimoria says he has joined hands with colleague Nozer Engineer to start the new venture. Billimoria hails from Navsari, has done his mechanical engineering from Surat and has experience in start-up concerns in Bombay.

"Eating sausages in India is not common mainly because the big companies processing meat for sausages use chemicals to tenderize it and give it an artificial pink color. My product is free of nitrite and nitrate or of artificial curing agents,” asserts Percy Bhathena who has applied for a license in the appropriate category. "I am looking for suitable premises. I’m keeping my fingers crossed as the license given is space specific and quite hard to get.” His product, he says, will be smoked at over 170 degrees temperature, vacuum packed and ready-to-eat, unlike other sausages which require to be fried/heated.

Tickling tastebuds with his proposed brand "Mocktails and More” is Jamshed Masani, who passed around small glasses of his mocktails to all assembled on the last day of the seminar. "My target areas are malls, which have high footfalls,” he explains. "My juice centers will also cater to people with special needs like diabetics and children, etc.” Aware that clientele at malls is lean in the morning hours, Masani is looking at ‘parcelized juices’which can be delivered to clients’ homes to brighten breakfast tables. Masani’s punch line includes the regular apple/pineapple/grape/strawberry combinations, as well as more creative flavors like raat-ki-rani (a sweet-smelling flower), jamun, passion fruit, avocado, etc.

Mother-of-three Zenobia Davar has been running her fashion designing and embroidery business for the last six years under her label ZS. Taking orders for navjotes (dresses, embroidered towel, pyjama suit, etc), bridal saris, Indo-Western outfits for adults and children, Davar also creates garas, pure zari kors, zardosi borders as per clients’ requirements. "Gara designs can be done in patchwork (on jhablas or on parts of the sari instead of all over) and that brings the costs down,” she tells us, adding that she has frames ready with the traditional ‘cheena-cheeni’ motifs, scenery, cottage, rooster, etc. Davar is now looking at export orders and at getting "contacts from China, as I am very interested in doing research on all forms of embroidery and getting them to India so that we can train personnel here.” Davar is aiming to visit China next year as, she says, she is also interested in importing premium quality skeins and fabrics.

Aazin Printer is lead vocalist, Ryan Sadri plays the saxophone and Jehangir Jehangir is the drummer in the eight-member band ‘Something Relevant’ which has been in existence for three years. "We play our own genre of music which is a mix of jazz, rhythm, blues, rock and reggae… We are an unconventional band and have adopted an alternative genre of fusion using the tabla, bongos, congas, saxophone, keyboards and violin to create a blend of east and west,” Printer explains. Right now their focus is on giving live concerts, he says. Where does one get to hear good music in India, he queries. "You go to crowded nightclubs, or pay fancy prices to hear the occasional foreign high profile groups or you go for the heavy metal. We are tired of remixes and loud meaningless songs. We write our own lyrics and can take creativity further” in the form of recordings and promotion of young talent.

From left: (front row) Kersi Limathwalla, Dr Atthreya, Minoo Shroff, Behram Dastur; (second row) Farida Doctor, Firuzan Mistry, Meher Billimoria, Percis Dubash, Zenobia Davar, Dolly Dhamodiwala; (last row) Homi Mullan, Jamshed Masani, Meher Modi, Aazin Printer, Kaizad Todywalla, Delyar Langrana, Prof Faredoon Kapadia, Percy Bhathena, Yazdi Tantra

Kaizad Todywalla is currently involved in the family business consisting of numismatics, exports and real estate and is also, he says, an art consultant specializing in contemporary and antique Indian art, objets d’art, etc. Todywalla proposes the setting up of a Zoroastrian Infrastructure Fund (ZIF). "Humongous community assets by way of Zoroastrian public trust properties, lands and places of worship remain in a state of neglect and without the active support of a vibrant community such dilapidated properties finally succumb to ruin and are usurped by local unscrupulous elements,” he notes. Todywalla proposes that ZIF be incorporated as a private limited company which will ensure transparency and lend it credibility, with funding raised from within community members and bodies, the objective being to "protect, profit and perpetuate” community resources for the betterment of all brethren.

Planning to set up an outsourcing company in the field of accounts and IT related work is mother-of-two Percis Dubash who is an accountant with rich experience in a multinational company. "Most of the groundwork, field work has been completed. I have been an employee for 25 years. I’m learning the ropes of entrepreneurship. I know I am responsible and accountable for everything in my business plan but I would like a mentor who will give unbiased guidance and advice,” she says.

Farida Doctor works for a leading BPO company and deals with travel and tourism as part of a well-known web portal. "This job is so demanding,” she sighs, working night shifts and long hours "to meet service requirements.” Travel is her passion, she says, and she would love to do the business she enjoys. "I have eight years of travel background. As a travel agent, I could give you tailor-made trips as per your taste. The big agencies sell what they have.” She has the confidence and the passion, she believes, but the rigors of the job and time limitations have so far prevented the business from taking off, she frankly confesses.

Facing time constraints too is Firuzan Mistry who is a freelancer in the print media and is also working on television game show scripts and documentary film scripts. Imprinted on her mind is the thought of "starting a publication especially for women, not something like Elle or Femina but an end-to-end solutions magazine, with authoritative articles on all aspects of a woman’s life including legal, financial, spiritual, home care, etc. But right now I am doing hosts of things all together!” she rues.

The controversy over the presence of pesticides in Coke and Pepsi has overshadowed Delyar Langrana’s plans for an aerated water bottling plant, a business that Parsis have traditionally been good at. "I had sorted things out, but people are backing out because of this,” he told us, having postponed his plans to a later date.

"What you got in one week at YEP you don’t get in a two-year course,” declared Atthreya at the end of the program. "The course was beautifully packaged and very relevant,” agreed Dubash. "As we listened we could see the flaws in our own plan. The awareness was created as to what we should be careful about while starting new businesses. We also obtained valuable contacts,” adds Masani. "These seven days are not the end but the beginning. Participants came with their thought processes – some very clear, some not so clear. Some will launch in one month, one year or two years. The seeds have been sown. Nurture them and they will bear flower and fruit,” Tantra asserted.