Down to business

"We are very elated at the response we have received for our first WZCC (World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce) all India Business Plan Contest which is for Zoroastrians who wish to start a business or expand an existing one. We received 40 entries initially,” says Cyrus Bagwadia, former chief executive officer of Essel Propack, who is vice president, WZCC India Chamber. Under the WZCC’s protective umbrella, the budding entrepreneurs were coached and shown the roadmap towards turning ideas of entrepreneurship into concrete plans of action. "We have received 23 (concrete) Business Plans, with some very interesting concepts, ranging from having a women’s specialty hospital for specific procedures only, to making organic foods which are potentially less harmful and more nourishing, to consultancy on human resources to bridge the gap between qualification, skill and jobs offered, to enhancing one’s credit worthiness, etc. There have been some really unbelievable ideas. We need to encourage and spread the word so that people with passion and ideas will start stepping forward,” he observes.

Business Plan Contest flyer

The majority of entries are from Bombay, with a few from Poona, Delhi, places in Gujarat, etc. There were a couple of proposals from USA and UK as well but they could not be considered as the Contest is for participant-created, managed and owned ventures in India only. "But we did not want to dampen their enthusiasm and so we encouraged them to move ahead and write the plan, which is actually the first difficult step. About seven or eight in India could not get their Plan ready on time and requested more time of around two to three months. We will help them then. A couple of them dropped out as they were getting married!” Bagwadia adds.