Boost for beginners

One of the chief challenges that new entrepreneurs face is to convert an idea into a viable business model. The biggest hurdle is to generate data on the size of the potential market or customer base, the competitive situation and the external environment.
While India offers many unique opportunities for start-ups that developed markets do not have, there are some operational issues such as:
Lack of mentors to guide start-ups;
Lack of bank and institutional funding for start-ups without collateral;
The time it takes to launch a business in India is three months as against three days in the US.
One of the challenges for a start-up is to make a viable business model, whether the business model is in e-commerce or for a product or service. It is most important that the business idea is unique in the sense that it is original, different or new so that it will get a foothold in the market and benefit the customer or society.
Mentoring is the first essential step that provides tacit knowledge by a mentor to a protégé to develop an idea into a business model. Mentoring is the offering of advice, information or guidance by a person with useful experience, skills or expertise, for another individual’s personal or professional development. The mentor encourages new ways of thinking and acting and pushes the protégé to stretch his or her capabilities. This is why the World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce (WZCC) has formed a Business Advisory Service (BAS).
A good match between a mentor and a protégé is an essential element of success. A WZCC core committee will refer the protégé to the appropriate mentor from the list, based on a review of the information or guidance sought by the protégé; provided that the protégé has made credible efforts and has a clear vision on what he wants to know. This is where a mentor’s role becomes essential.
For developing a business one needs resources in terms of finance, personnel, land, building and equipment or machinery. The work involved in generating and organizing these resources is a herculean task and is often a deterrent for a young start-up and a potential entrepreneur.
There is a way of overcoming this hurdle, and it is based on my personal experience of starting a company to produce plastic multi-layer films for flexible packaging and other industrial applications for the first time in India in 1981-82. It involved partnering with an existing midsize company.
My partner accepted my suggestion that we form a private limited company (a joint venture) to produce multi-layer films so that it would be an independent entity not linked to the sole proprietary business which produced mono-layer polyethylene films for the textile industry and commodity packaging.
Very often established businesses see value in a new business idea that is in some way relevant for the growth or diversity of their business. This growth strategy enables an organization to retain focus on its core competence while at the same time, leveraging the strengths of the new partner to expand the customer base for its products or services, leading to rapid business growth for both partners.
To implement the concept of the BAS, the WZCC needs to form a core committee to carry out the following broadly defined action plan:
Promote the concept of the BAS extensively within the community not only in Bombay but in other towns and cities, and to promote the concept through social media sites;
Keep expanding the panel of mentors from the present level of 12 and post their specific expertise and business experience on the WZCC website;
Develop a database of business houses managed by Zoroastrians along with the service or product offered/sold by them;
Communicate with business houses on the concept of the BAS to obtain their reaction on partnering with potential entrepreneurs or start-ups as and when a mentor approves the business plan.
The most essential attribute for a successful partnership is trust between the key members of the partnering organizations. If this prerequisite is missing, creating a partnership is futile.
The success of the BAS will depend upon the WZCC’s promotional efforts, the ability of young entrepreneurs to come up with unique ideas and the foresight shown by Zoroastrian businesses to partner with young entrepreneurs for their mutual benefit.

Kharas is a director on the international board of the WZCC.