Rajan Bhai is one heck of a funny person. He came to this country in mid 70s from a small village of Gujrat, India. He worked hard and turned into a mutli-millionare businessman. (He is known in friend circle as 'crorepati') I like him as his views are always unique and I think he is a god-gifted smart man. He run his business in his own desi style. His one son finished MBA from an Ivy leayge school and joined him in business and is very frustrated with (per his say) unorganised way of running business. Here is a conversation between him (RB) and his son (S):
S: : "Daddy! can we sit down and jot precisely how much our all businesses worth?"
RB: "Tum janna chahte ho ke main ne ab tuk kiya kamaya"
S: "Kind of yes"
RB: "Beta! Jo kuch bhi hamare paas hai bus us main se aik shirt aur patloon minus ker do. Baqi jo kuch hai - tumhari eduation mila ke - woh sab kuch kamaya hi kamaya hai"
Rajan Bhai landed in this country with just one shirt and a pant. No wonder, people say this is a land of opportunity.
7 comments:
I want to be a crore-pati! Ask Rajan bhai to post Top Ten Tips to become a Crore Pati!
hardwork pays any where!! ppl r reluctant to drive a can or wash dishes in their country while here they do this without reluctance.
True hard work pays anywhere....
most of my friends who assist their fathers in their family businesses feel caught up and uncomfortable by the orthodox ways in which the businesses run. but these desi ways turn out , generally to be more successful. then what do they teach us in our M.B.A. progs? are we creating younger gen of analysts who mostly beat around the bush? is this too cynical?
I think there are 2 aspects of old desi business style, which makes MBAs uncomfortable. One, there is a lack of transperency and it gets run more on 'gut feeling' rather than analysis. Also, usually it is run on 'seth' style which saves tons of money on decision making...
I have a family business and my father who runs it, has an MBA. So let me give both sides of the equation. I think fresh graduates in any field feel that the real world is not running 'right'. They come from their idealistic books/classes and expect to apply everything what they studied. This is not to say that new methods are not good and innovative. However, there are a lot of things on the practical side of work that just don't follow theory.
Also, if you have ever worked in a small or medium sized private business in a 3rd world country - you will see it beset with a lot of problems on the course of a normal workday which might not have anything to do with work. You know what I'm talking about. This seth style I belive evolves from the flexibility needed to solve these gazillion 'other' problems while running an office in an undependable society - electiricity cuts, theft, or plain old riots etc.
At the same time I've seen a lot of small, 'mom' and 'pop' businesses in Pakitan rise up to a corporate level because of the MBA blood and ideas the younger recruits bring. So it goes both ways. First you capture the market in a 'seth'/gureilla style - then you bring smart, sharp people with new knowledge in to raise up your efficiencies, a.k.a the MBA sons/daughters.
Oh God, this post is a thesis. Enjoy!
Very interesting and thorough reply...indeed a thesis!!
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