Developing business

They seek to provide access to success. The World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce-India (WZCCI) announced its Entrepreneur Development Program (EDP) scheduled to start from October 1, 2010. "Last year we had conducted a very successful Business Plan Contest (BPC). There were 42 applicants and six were chosen for cash awards of up to Rs 50,000 each. Five new businesses were launched,” says Cyrus Bagwadia, the chief designer and convener of the program. "Moving forward from what we learnt from last year’s experience, we will focus more on imparting business management knowledge — information on how to start an enterprise, whether it should be a partnership or private limited company, how to go about registering it, raising funds from banks or SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India) or private funding and so on.”

The enabling processes for the EDP will include a series of workshops imparting practical knowledge and provide participants the opportunity to mingle and learn from successful business people and professionals. "This will be useful not only for start-up enterprises but also running ventures. We would like to encourage sunrise businesses,” Bagwadia notes. "We will teach participants how to write a Business Plan and then give two months’ time for each one to crystallize his/her ideas into a concrete Business Plan.”

Cyrus Bagwadia: motivating young entrepreneurs

At the end of December, the WZCCI would hold an awards ceremony and present attractive cash prizes and sponsorships for the Best Business Plans. "A panel of expert mentors and highly experienced advisors would be made available to all participants to guide them through and even after the event. There is no other similar community program so professionally organized,” states a press release from the WZCCI. The maximum number of participants will be 30, so budding entrepreneurs are urged to enroll early, the release adds.

Encouraging interaction and one-on-one discussions with established businessmen, the WZCC Mumbai Youth Committee organized a visit to Spenta Multimedia in Bombay on July 24, 2010. "The aim of this visit was to hear about the entrepreneurial experience of the Davar brothers, Maneck and Minoo, and how print media can help an entrepreneur,” notes a write-up forwarded by Armin Palia, WZCC Youth Committee liaison.

Started in 1995, Spenta Multimedia is a "leading publishing house in India with a portfolio of 32 custom (contract) publications and five newsstand magazines with a collective print run of over 800,000 copies… It was Jet Wings, the in flight magazine of Jet Airways that proved their credibility in print media,” the write-up states. "Since then they have set their footprint in custom publishing, consumer publications, printing and online.” They also print the monthly BPP Review.

Minoo Davar took the group of 10 youth from different walks of life on a tour of the printing press where printing continues 24x7 with "highly conceptualized, customized smart machinery… Technology and automation have led to machines with artificial intelligence and the ability to store printing specifications for years at a stretch…” the write-up adds. Maneck Davar provided insights into the functioning of a print media house — from content development and editorial to design, art work and final printing and stressed that one should never compromise on quality.