After having grown Marico Ltd into one of the formidable names in Indian FMCG space, Harsh Mariwala decided to don the hat of a mentor to young entrepreneurs through a not-for-profit outfit called Ascent. Launched in 2012, the initiative was born out of Mariwala’s belief that sharing collective knowledge enables entrepreneurs to address their challenges. The initiative is a peer-to-peer platform, with 10-12 entrepreneurs in each group who meet regularly to discuss problems and find ways to solve them. Today, it has nearly 24 groups with over 300 active entrepreneurs who learn from each other. For example, Asim Dalal , CEO, Indo Count Retail Ventures Pvt Ltd, was able to create business processes for his company based on best practices shared by other entrepreneurs in his group at Ascent. “I had 10 consultants who could give me their views, share their experience and point out the shortcomings to perfect the SOPs (Standard Operating Procedure)” he says. In a conversation with BusinessLine , Mariwala talks about the booming entrepreneurial ecosystem in India and how his initiative is offering a platform for them. Excerpts:

Do you see any difference in the way entrepreneurs are today, to how you were when you started Marico?

There are huge differences. One is: the old economy then and the new economy now. The era of technology is driving a lot of new-age businesses. Secondly, the risk-taking profile of individuals is interesting to me, especially the so-called professionals, who did not have money at that time; even today they don’t, but today there is an ecosystem of financiers, partners, investors, venture capitalists; so there are various options. The kind of people looking at setting up their own enterprise has also changed dramatically. A lot of that has to do with the fact that they can take risk. They’re all very qualified; they can get a job to keep them financially secure. There is a backup option if you’re not succeeding.

In terms of maturity, do you think we can be like Silicon Valley?.

I think we are a long way off. We have pockets of entrepreneurs who are based out of Bengaluru, especially the digital-age, e-commerce business kinds. I think we have a long way to go, we have just begun.

You have been quoted earlier that being an entrepreneur is a lonely process, and you yourself had a group of entrepreneurs in your days to help you out. Was that your trigger to start Ascent?

I think that was one of the triggers. In addition to that, I wanted to create some value for our stakeholders, whether it is for the employees, owners or associates. I realised that start-ups have a different set of challenges, and I thought if I wanted to make an impact in a big way, start-ups would be the way to go, as it a different kind of network. I want to make an ecosystem where people can learn from each other, not as advisors or consultants, but by sharing their own successes or experiences, so that others can learn from them. So while they can learn from each other, the responsibility of taking business decisions is their own.

What would be your advice be to a young entrepreneur in terms of blind spots or potholes on the road to entrepreneurship?

First of all, the business model — you need to pave the right way there. That brings you to the issue of innovation and how to pioneer yourself in your category. If you create a culture of innovation, that is the kind of talent you will attract. Also, there are some people who are control freaks; they are so much in love with their business that they don’t want to delegate. And beyond a point, if you really want to be a good leader, you have to learn to trust others. When you are small, you are doing things yourself; when you grow to a medium-sized organisation, you can afford to have teams to do things for you. But when you really grow big, you have to learn to influence others and that’s where your leadership styles comes in. That’s how an entrepreneur changes, depending on the scale of his enterprise.

A lot of entrepreneurs don’t know how to handle investors once they are on board. Do you get questions around this?

Yes, as in, how do you select the right kind of investor, because there are so many types. There are some who will hold your hand and guide you, then there are some who will just have demands and be ruthless about them. So I think, selecting the right partner is very important. And once you have selected them, maintaining that relationship is important.

Is the selection process for Ascent very stringent?

Yes, almost 50 per cent of the applications get sifted out if they don’t meet our guidelines. It is a three-step process. First is the application we get online, then there is an interaction we form. Once we have 5-7 shortlisted candidates, we have an orientation and then a presentation about their enterprise and about them as an entrepreneur. Here is where we gauge things such as willingness to learn, ability to take professional inputs, where is the innovation in their model, if there is potential for growth. Some of them also don’t have the right personality for a group interaction, they can be too dominating, and we don’t want that to hamper our ecosystem.

Do you plan to have chapters of Ascent beyond Mumbai?

We have plans to expand in Bengaluru. But after going through the experience in Mumbai, we want to first focus on getting 1,000 entrepreneurs in Mumbai. We have been seeing a good trend in the past six months, with a lot of them being referrals.

Do you think you will hit 1,000 in a year?

I think that is difficult, I would be happy if we hit 500 by then. We have 350 as of now.

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