Who Is An Entrepreneur?

An entrepreneur is a starter. An entrepreneur is an initiator, a challenger and a driver.

Someone that creates something new, either an initiative, a business or a company. He or
she is the beginning (and sometimes the end) of a venture, project or activity. The
entrepreneur might not be the idea creator, but he or she is definitely the one that decides
to make that idea a reality.
An entrepreneur is the driver. The entrepreneur is the person in charge, the leader and the
person to look to for leadership. He or she is the one that pushes forward and inspires a
team to follow. The entrepreneur is the one that sits in the drivers seat, and has the ability
to change direction, accelerate, slow down or even stop a venture.
An entrepreneur is accountable and responsible. The entrepreneur is the ultimate
responsible for the destiny of its venture, which can be a company, a project, or any other
endeavour. The entrepreneur is the one that has the highest stakes at the venture, thus the
one that needs to be empowered to fully direct the endeavour.

There are many successful entrepreneurs of India who started from scratches and now they
are the leader of their field with their unique mind sets and working styles. Few of them are
following:

A) Lakshmi Niwas Mittal

Indian-origin steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, who spent eight years at the top of the Sunday
Times Rich List, is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ArcelorMittal, the biggest
steel producing company of the world. In 2013, a 2.7 billion drop in his wealth in the past
12 months sent Mittal from the top spot to the fourth place.
Struggle to success:
1. Starting in Indonesia in 1975, he built a new mill on land his father held in
Indonesia which he then operated. Within a year, Mittal established Ispat
International, a unit of his father's company, in Indonesia and was focusing on
running its operations.

2. In order to become a major player in the global steel market, Mittal turned to
Kazakhstan. Mittal bought the country's Karmet Steel works in Temirtau for just
$400 million. The single acquisition turned out of be the wisest decision by Mittal
since Kazakhstan shares a border with China, a country where the steel demand was
about to rise. Later Lakshmi Mittal became a global steel producer with operations in
14 countries.

3. Visionary Mittal saw immense opportunity in the fragmented international steel

industry that was crying out for consolidation. It was largely because lots of
 companies were owned by the governments and research and development was
inexistent. The sector was characterized by acute over capacity, high indebtedness
and steel prices that had hit rock bottom.

4. Mittal's biggest and boldest move came in 2006, when he tried to buy Arcelor, a
company created through a merger of firms from Spain, France, Luxembourg and
Belgium. As of today ArcelorMittal is the world's number one steel and mining
company, with over 260,000 employees in more than 60 countries.

5. Mittal believes in living a luxurious life. He has bought for himself lots of luxury
houses. Lakshmi Mittal calls himself as a global citizen'. Lakshmi Mittal is an active
philanthropist who donates large sums to sporting, educational and healthcare
charities, including a 15 million gift to London's Great Ormand Street Hospital.

B) Sunil Bharti Mittal

Sunil Bharti Mittal is an Indian entrepreneur who founded the Bharti Enterprises, a business
conglomerate headquartered in New Delhi, India. With his relentless hard work and sheer
determination not only did he manage to carve a niche for himself, but also emerged as one
of the industry leaders in the telecom sectors with his flagship company Bharti Airtel which
operates in countries across South Asia and Africa.
Struggle to success:
1. Sunil was ambitious and business minded from a young age. He began to import
scraps and bicycle parts when he was just 19 and went on to build a small-scale
project to manufacture stainless steel sheets.

2. Along with his brothers he started an import enterprise named Bharti Overseas
Trading Company in 1980 and the next year he purchased importing licenses from
exporting companies in Punjab.

3. He faced a crisis when the government banned the import of generators in order to
promote manufacture of generators within the country. He had to look for other
business avenues now.

4. He collaborated with the French telecom group Vivendi who agreed to do business
with him in spite of the fact that he was still a small-timer that time. He launched
services in Delhi in 1995 when Bharti Cellular Limited (BCL) was formed to offer
cellular services under the brand name AirTel.

5. He is currently serving as the Vice Chairman of the International Chamber of

Commerce (ICC) and is also on the Prime Minister of Indias Council on Trade &
Industry, World Economic Forums International Business Council, and Telecom
Board of International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
 C) Dhirubhai Ambani
From being a spice dealer to a cloth merchant to a textile producer, it was his overarching
ambition, inexhaustible energy and never-say-die spirit that led him through all the
obstacles to emerge as the business tycoon of India. He established and laid the foundation
for Reliance Industries, which has become one of the largest conglomerates of India today.
It was through his futuristic vision and strong business acumen that Reliance Industries
created history in the Indian industry, a legacy that would serve as an inspiration for
generations to come.
Struggle to success:
1. Curious to learn the tricks of the trade, he soon started working simultaneously for a
Gujarati trading firm. It was there that he learnt accounting, book keeping and
preparing shipping papers and documents.

2. His foresightedness and ability to judge helped him crack two most hefty deals in the
yarn market that earned him the flush of capital required for the future Reliance
Textiles. Playing on his idea of establishing a manufacturing unit, he soon realized
the same by setting up a textile mill in Naroda, Ahmedabad in 1966.

3. Not the one to accept defeat, he soon stepped out on the road and started selling his
stock directly to retailers. His daring attitude and gutsy behaviour impressed all and
soon the market for Vimal, the name of his fabric, grew and started expanding. In
no time, it became the finest, best-selling fashion fabric of its times.

4. Over the period of time, the Reliance industries diversified into other sector, such as,
telecommunications, information technology, energy, power, retail, textiles,
infrastructure services, capital markets, and logistics.

D) Shahnaz Husain
Shahnaz Husain is a pioneer, visionary and an innovator who taught the world that dreams
can come true. She is among those very few woman entrepreneurs who introduced an
entirely new concept of Ayurvedic Care and Cure to the world and taught a new way of
becoming successful. Known for herbal cosmetics store which she named after her
name, Shahnaz.in. She is a legend and her enterprise is a magnificent reflection of her
dreams, hopes and aspirations. Shahnaz Husain a woman who is an inspiration for many of
the young entrepreneurs in this world.
Struggle to success:
1. Financial constraints never deterred Shahnazs spirits. When she started the business
in the international market she was all alone and had to compete with big
 international brands. All she had with herself was faith in her abilities and invincible
belief in her studies and Ayurveda.

2. Her success was not just because of her franchise based system but also because of
her unique marketing strategies. At the time when everybody believed in advertising
for the sale of products, Shahnaz did not rely on such commercial
advertisements. All she had for publicity through word of mouth as she let her work
speak for her. Shahnaz Husain is herself the brand ambassador of her brand.

3. She adopted the concept of Care and Cure which was totally unique and path
breaking. She knew that the only way to realise her ideas was to start her own herbal
salon. So, she started her customised beauty care which was based on individual
needs and problems and emphasised on the good health of skin and hair.

4. Shahnaz Husain was not even a graduate when she started thinking of her clinic. This
posed a small but a major obstacle in her path. But she had faith and was convinced
that if she was highly qualified in her field then she could have the world at her feet.

E) Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw founded Biocon India Limited in 1978 in collaboration with Biocon
Biochemical Limited in Ireland. Her company became one of the largest pharmaceuticals
companies in India, while it was only an industrial enzymes manufacturing company before.
The company then focused as specific diseases like diabetes, auto-immune ailments, and
oncology.
Struggle to success:
1. Establish two subsidiaries companies named Syngene in 1994 to support discovery
research and development, and Clinigene in 2000 which would serve clinical
development services.

2. Biocon became one of the pioneering biotech companies to export to the US and
obtained funding from them for research and development. It has its patents and its
own biopharmaceutical company and is working as an independent entity now.

3. The company and its achievements have made Kiran Mazumdar Shaw one of the
most influential women in the world. She is the 4th richest Indian woman and
ranks 75th in the Forbes India list of richest Indians with a net worth of $900 million.

4. Mazumdar Shaw always gave importance to reasearch and development activities for
taking the company operations to new dimensions. Today, biocon has become a
completely integrated, multi million dollar, biopharmaceutical enterprise.