Taking stock at WZCC

The five-star Hotel Marina Mandarin in Singapore is to be the venue for the World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce (WZCC) global annual general meeting (AGM) from January 3 to 5, 2013. "Singapore is a hub for business; it is growing very fast. The 200 or so Parsis there are anxious to set up a WZCC chapter. It will give wings, maybe to one even in Hong Kong in future,” said Adi Siganporia, WZCC-India Chamber (WZCCI) honorary secretary in Bombay on September 21, 2012. "There are excellent speakers in Singapore. The theme will be how to promote through Singapore business opportunities in the South East Asia region. The Outstanding Zarathushti Award winners will also be announced at this very significant event,” he added. After the ear-to-the-ground panel discussions, corporate camaraderie and sightseeing in Singapore (Sentosa, Night Safari, etc), members who choose to can take a sea change to Penang and Phuket with a cruise on the Superstar Virgo, with wind, wave and twinkling little stars for company!

Siganporia was speaking on the occasion of the ninth AGMs of the WZCCI and of the Bombay chapter at the West End Hotel. "Our mission is more than just promoting entrepreneurship,” stated Pheroze Kharas, Bombay chapter chair. "We must also help the younger generation develop entrepreneurial skills.” Throughout history people had little need to manage their careers, Kharas explained. They were born into stations in life. The sons of carpenters, for example, became carpenters. In the recent past, people have relied on their companies to chart their career path. "We have to place ourselves where we can make the greatest contribution to ourselves and community. We have to know how and when to change the work we do. Ask the right questions. What are my strengths, what value do I add to my organization, where should I be so I can perform to my maximum potential,” Kharas exhorted members to channelize energy and emotion to spark the change within.

Above, 1st row (from left): Minoo Shroff, Cyrus Bagwadia, Viraf Deboo, Zeree Jehangirji, Farrokh Rustomji and Navroze Dhondy; (2nd row): Adil Dadachanji, Pheroze Kharas, Adi Siganporia and Xerxes Dastur

The WZCC is to partner with the National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) to "inspire, engage and develop entrepreneurial skills and fast track one’s career in jobs,” Kharas announced. NEN, a non profit organization, is India’s largest and most vibrant community of new and future high-growth entrepreneurs. It provides support at the start-up and early stages through mentors, fast-track access to funding, as well as provides learning tools. It was co-founded in 2003 by India’s top educational institutions like the IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Bombay, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and others, Kharas narrated. The WZCC proposes to start with an introductory program which will lead to a better understanding of the main program, which can be taken stage-wise by beginners or those already in business.

Xerxes Dastur, the honorary treasurer, informed the members that the assets of the chapter for the year ended March 31, 2012 had grown significantly and the annual surplus was carried forward. Adil Dadachanji, honorary secretary, presented an overview of the activities of the Bombay chapter which is "the most active and holds a program almost every month.” Financial planner Rohinton Unani was co-opted to the committee.

"The WZCC is reaching out and not just waiting for members to come in. The program with NEN will be a historic milestone for the WZCC,” observed Cyrus Bagwadia, president of the India Chamber which, he explained, was a kind of holding company with no profit and loss account of its own. The various chapters maintained their own accounts. Farhad Hozdar and Company, chartered accountants, were reappointed the statutory auditors.

Viraf Deboo, Poona chapter chair, narrated that one of the highlights of the year’s activities was the meeting held in March at the Parsi boys’ hostel where 22 youngsters interacted with four of the WZCC committee members and Poona Parsee Panchayat trustee Bahram Pashutanizadeh. Former Poona chapter chair Adi Engineer was the keynote speaker at that meet. The youngsters would be divided into groups as per the careers they wished to take, with a WZCC chapter member mentoring each group. "We shall be reigniting this process in October/November,” Deboo informed Parsiana later. A WE (Women Entrepreneurs) program is also being planned for Poona, Deboo said. Stalwarts and captains of industry need to be involved, but not merely as sponsors. "Maybe we are not interesting them enough. What can we do to get them involved?” he queried. Right now we are merely scratching the surface, he assessed realistically.

Business journalists and Moneylife founders Sucheta Dalal and Debashis Basu

Introducing Navroze Dhondy, the new head of the Delhi chapter, WZCC international board member Farrokh Rustomji delineated Dhondy’s many accomplishments. With 30 years’ experience in advertising, media and marketing, Dhondy was earlier vice president of Hindustan Thompson Associates and chief executive officer of TBWA India and Percept before he set up his own agency Creatigies Communications Private Limited 10 years ago. Creatigies works with large corporate houses and brands across the platforms of sports, fashion, entertainment… "Dhondy’s passion for sports led him to create one of India’s first top sports events — the Hero Cup — in 1993. Creatigies is the only agency that has worked with each and every team of the Indian Premier League and (was instrumental) in the creation of SMS-based cricket game shows such as PREDIKTA, which spawned many imitations,” Rustomji narrated. Blind cricket is another area Dhondy has been involved with, helping organize the Blind Cricket World Cup and the India visually impaired cricket tours to Pakistan and England. Magiktuch, a group of visually impaired singers and musicians who have performed in India and overseas, is another initiative. Having him on board (as Delhi chapter chair) is good for the WZCC, Rustomji added. "This is very flattering and difficult to live up to,” Dhondy acknowledged. "This is going to be a big challenge. If things happen outside Delhi too we will be happy to take part.” They could also help in events that require entertainment of a high quality, Dhondy remarked, narrating that at one of the performances of Magiktuch before an audience of over 1,500 people in Jordan, the group played a mix of Western, Arabic and Bollywood music and the Queen of Jordan, who was supposed to attend for only 15 minutes, stayed for the whole show!

"How do we get out of this mindset that the WZCC is only for entrepreneurs? How do we get people to come for meetings – do we pull or push? The challenge is to just plunge in, have faith and achieve!” WZCCI committee member Zeree Jehangirji told the assembled members. "Parsi industrialists will also participate in time. We have to make that little bit of extra effort.”

WZCC global president Minoo Shroff spoke about the dramatic change in India’s economic landscape since 1991 and the aspirations of the middle class: "Even a mali (gardener) wants to own a bike, cell and send his two children to English speaking schools.” Political logjam has caused the economic environment to deteriorate but there is no dearth of jobs in corporate India and no dearth of investment as companies are aware that the best returns are from their businesses in this country. "Introduce the right technology even at high cost. Quality is very good collateral. Prepare (true) financial projections and never try to pull a fast one on your banker. They do not like surprises!” Be honest and realistic, Shroff said, smilingly narrating the late billionaire Jean Paul Getty’s succinct assessment of the secret of his success: "Some people like me are lucky to find oil, some don’t…”

Shroff also introduced the two guest speakers of the evening – senior business journalists Sucheta Dalal and Debashis Basu, founders of Moneylife, a fortnightly personal finance magazine which seeks to help individuals invest wisely, to manage and mitigate risks of the market so that stock does not turn into shock! "They are fair and forthright in comment,” said Shroff adding he came into closer contact when Dalal was authoring a biography of his uncle A. D. Shroff (1899-1965), an eminent economist, banker and proponent of free enterprise. The husband wife duo has also co-authored The Scam: From Harshad Mehta to Ketan Parekh. "Their lucid, pungent and penetrative writings are not always popular!” Shroff smiled.

"Commonwealth Games, 2G scam, coalgate… the loot of the economy is going on under our noses. Why is it that we didn’t know what was going on?” asked Dalal. In a hard-hitting attack particularly on the mainstream print media and television, she stated: "Everything has a price today, everybody is in the marketplace. Paid news, advertorials, the media is entirely focused on advertising revenue. Wrap around ads you see on the front page of leading dailies cost crores! Everyone is in the game of selling — be it real estate, Friday films, Botox as a cure for just about everything… PR (public relations) agencies are placing articles, no one wants to offend their big advertisers, panel discussions are beamed out as independent TV discussions, and the same people are quoted most of the time…” The bad news – Ponzi (fraudulent investment) schemes, multilevel or network marketing scams like Speak Asia (where lakhs of small investors lost their money), Gold Quest, etc – rarely make front page headlines. Banks, she asserted, used to spell solidity and trust. Today, executives in ties and jackets will sell you insurance, retirement and other products where you lose money. Even foreign banks are guilty of this, knowing full well that the small investors will not sue, as they cannot afford the fees of big lawyers the banks might hire, she elaborated. Dalal also came out strongly against the use of celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan and others to endorse in a minute’s TV advertisement financial products which may take even a management man an hour to understand fully!

Veera Mundroina: encouraging women entrepreneurs

Moneylife has highlighted many a scam story. "We wrote and wrote on Speak Asia for months; we started the Pratibha Patil story (regarding the construction of the former President’s luxurious retirement home in a defence area in Poona); we wrote about the Osian Art Fund and the kind of people hard selling it… Don’t invest in anything that doesn’t have an association or regulator (such as the Reserve Bank of India, Securities and Exchange Board of India, etc). The RTI (Right to Information) Act has made a dramatic difference. It allows people like us to survive. We have to speak out and we enjoy what we are doing,” she averred.
"We are the only media company that has set up a not for profit entity (Moneylife Foundation) for financial literacy. Human beings are not hardwired to understand money. People are not able to read the fine print. When wronged, there is little redress,” remarked Basu. With so many stocks and mutual funds in the market, choices are confusing. "Moneylife (the magazine, website and Foundation) is not commission driven. I am going to do the hard work and narrow down the choices. We are looking at the AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) model, where you have to be 50 and over to become a member. Believe me, we haven’t even started using social media (Twitter, etc) for what we want to do,” Basu stated. "We have to use the enormous opportunities this country offers.”
Industry and integrity is the WZCC motto. "With so much nonsense going on in the financial sector, we should heed the red signals,” Siganporia concluded.