One day while flying in his helicopter over a village, Capt G.R. Gopinath looked below and watched in amazement television antennas sticking out of houses after houses.

That scenario left a deep impression on Capt Gopinath.

“Where people saw poverty, Capt Gopinath saw prosperity. In that one moment, he realised that this was not a country of a billion people waiting to be subsidised and fed. This was a country of a billion people wanting to fly! Capt Gopinath connected the dots as he looked into the future,” Mr Subroto Bagchi, Gardener and Vice-Chairman of MindTree Ltd, said here on Friday.

Delivering the keynote address at the inaugural programme of the BL Club for the current academic year at the New Horizon Leadership Institute here, Mr Bagchi narrated the lives of 10 entrepreneurs from Bangalore who lived their dreams and the lessons one must learn from their successes.

Lessons from successes

“If you are good, good people will work for you and good customers will be attracted to you,” Mr Bagchi said about one of the lessons one can draw from the success of these entrepreneurs.

Quoting examples of Mr V.G. Siddhartha, founder of Café Coffee Day, Ms Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, founder of Biocon, Mr Narayan Manepally, who founded one of India's first microbreweries, Mr N.R. Narayana Murthy, Co-founder and Non-Executive Chairman of Infosys Technologies, Capt G.R. Gopinath, founder of the country's first low-cost airline, Air Deccan, Dr Devi Shetty, who set up Narayana Hrudayalaya, Mr Harish Hande, founder of SELCO, which provides sustainable energy solutions for the under-served households, Ms Anita Shah, founder of garden store Hibiscus, Ms Lalana Zaveri, Founder of Printo Document Services, and Mr Azim Premji of Wipro, he told the students to embrace the qualities of these extraordinary business leaders.

Spirit of entrepreneurship

Mr Bagchi also told the students to have a vision, and self-confidence, and find their passion and follow it.

He advised them to develop the capacity to postpone their gratification, the abilities to look at the bottom of the pyramid, be sensitive to the feelings of the others, keep in mind that service to the customers should be the cornerstone of all their ventures and they should also develop a sense of integrity.

Mr K. Devananda Upadhyaya, General Manager (financial inclusion, marketing and insurance), Syndicate Bank, said Manipal, which is the birthplace of the bank, represents the spirit of entrepreneurship.

“The bank is a testimony to the indomitable spirit of the founders,” Mr Upadhyaya said.

Mr K. Venugopal, Joint Editor, The Hindu Business Line, pointed out that the country offers immense opportunities to the youngsters today which did not exist earlier.

At the same time, they have to contend with increasing competition in their careers.

Dr S.K. Prasad, Director, New Horizon Leadership Institute, welcomed the gathering.

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