Take Me Home

Title: Take Me Home – The Inspiring Stories of 20 Entrepreneurs from Small-town India with Big-time Dreams
Author: Rashmi Bansal
Publisher: Westland, 2014 (First)
ISBN: 9789383260805
Pages: 356

India lives in its numerous villages rather than a few cities. This statement has assumed the dimensions of an adage even though the ratio of village dwellers are rapidly falling as time goes by. Urbanisation has changed the social topography of India’s heartland with numerous small towns now scattered across the country. Usually the big cities are associated with entrepreneurship, industry and credit networks that sustain business. But talent knows no bounds and hardworking innovators thrive in the hinterland as well without any exposure to the outside world. This causes no hurdles in their growth path, but a true appreciation that comes from the knowledge of how they did it helps foster the spirit of entrepreneurship in the land. This book gives the stories of twenty persons across India’s small towns who hit big in business. The list includes only one woman – Dilafroze Qazi of Kashmir – who is into the private sector technical education. The book’s title is inspired from John Denver’s immortal song, ‘Country roads, take me home’ which is amply suited to the rustic focus of the narrative. Rashmi Bansal is a non-fiction writer and herself an entrepreneur who has authored many books on entrepreneurship.

Bansal’s effort tries to mark a distinct phase of India’s growth when the wealth is created not only in the metropolitan cities, but has percolated down to nearby towns and villages. The new India consists of prosperous inhabitants of small towns and countryside. They overpowered the big metros in terms of sheer numbers, thereby becoming the customers every marketer wants to reach. With so much potential available locally, it’s no wonder that a small revolution occurred in the small towns. A new breed of entrepreneurs has emerged who are changing old equations and assumptions. The metros are characterized by people who are always busy and rushing from one place to another in a hurry. But in the countryside, time is what people have for each other, not something you chase.

This book tells the story of twenty innovative business-people, but keeps silent on the revolutionary changes that took place in the business atmosphere of India brought about by globalization. However, readers are reminded of the tectonic shifts that occurred in the mindset of society in consequence to it. In a typical example, Virani Brothers in Rajkot, who specialized in making salty chips for snacks, procures the best raw materials and technology from around the globe. They sent their managers to Israel and began cultivating potato varieties like ‘Lady Rosetta’ in Gujarat. Broiler chicken producers now use ERP software for connecting the head office to farms. When a truck is loaded for delivery, its weight can be seen in real time in all the concerned offices. The bureaucratic babus still maintained haughtiness in their deals with the industry as seen in the case of Jyoti CNC machines of Rajkot. They imported a linear motor for its new lathe from Germany which was making a debut in Europe. It had no rotating parts and was held up by the customs officials for three months because it had no ball bearings which every normal motor had and the device did not rotate!

The author makes a prescient assessment of Kerala as ‘the land of coconuts, lagoons, spice villages, rest and rejuvenation and not a place which you would associate with work’ (p.57). This is god's own country from where god's own children go to other countries in search of work. This sorry state of affairs came about due to excessive politicisation of the society and a foolhardy bias to outdated notions of socialism and by corollary, a visceral hatred of private entrepreneurs. It is here that C V Jacob established ‘Synthite’ to export oleoresins extracted from natural spices. He was a civil engineering contractor who happened to find spices in liquid form – as oleoresins – at an expo in Japan in 1970. He transplanted the technology to Kerala where raw materials like cardamom and pepper are freely available. Synthite steadily grew to become the world's largest oleoresin manufacturer.

One important fact this book conveys to aspiring entrepreneurs is the importance of keeping abreast of new developments in the field. This is achievable by attending the trade fairs organized in the country and abroad. Such an early adoption of new technology confers on them a great advantage in the fierce competition of the markets. The industrialists should also think about innovative measures that are helpful in bringing down the cost of production. As an example, Jagjit Singh of Punjab found an ingenious way to maximize the collection of honey. He transported the boxes containing bees to various places depending on the local season for specific crops. These boxes were then rotated through mustard fields in Rajasthan, sunflower farms in Punjab and kikar and acacia flowers in Kashmir.

Of the twenty people mentioned in the book, Dilafroze Qazi is the only woman, but she hails from Kashmir. Being a state firmly controlled by corrupt politicians and Islamic militants in the past, her success deserves an extra load of laurels. The militants virtually ruled the Valley in the 1990s when businesses had had to pay them protection money. When in dire need, they would kidnap people and extort ransom. The police often stood by as mute spectators while militants rampaged on non-complying establishments. Qazi’s specialization was in providing technical education to Kashmiri girls, but the ulema often obstructed the smooth functioning of colleges as the concept of female education ran counter to the tenets of Islamic laws. This book provides a hint of what a prospective employer looks for in the candidates who have applied for a job there. Most pragmatic of them assess 'how capable is he, how sincere is he and how much does he need the job’.

Bansal has made a neat job of her goal, but monotony sets in after a few chapters. All of them are written in the same repeating pattern. Moreover, some of the examples are not worthy to be listed here. There is no uniform formula for business success, but anything can be made rewarding if you persevere enough – that’s the moral this book conveys. The advice of a successful entrepreneur was never to work on verbal assurance but to get it in writing. We know that it is not always practical, but the man made his career on this principle!

The book is divided into three sections: a) people who never left for greener pastures, but their vision and ambition expanded far beyond their native towns b) return of the native, who returned from fine institutions or foreign lands with the dream of making a difference and c) the people who brought in change in the ways of society. This book reproduces snippets of Hindi conversations in the interviews in transliterated form in English characters along with its English meaning in brackets immediately after the Hindi lines. This becomes tedious and quite difficult for people who are not familiar with Hindi. Each chapter contains a section on the protagonist’s advice to young entrepreneurs.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 3 Star