India is quite similar to Nigeria in every front especially in terms of population density, high migration tendency, strong intellectual individuals, corrupt leadership, British colonized, etc but India of recent times have advanced a great deal; they have been in the forefront of the computer age and are recently been proposed by France and UK to join the G-8 to make it G-13. What inspires me about the country is their leverage on human capital to drive their economy from their Bollywood exports to their High Skilled Expatriates.
In the interview below, I chatted with Nitesh Gupta “a 22-year old entrepreneur based in India” who is spear heading the export department of his father’s company; Kayemel Machines PVT Limited. He has proven himself to be his own man by developing one of India’s first hybrid cars and winning the Northeastern Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) competition in the US in 2006. There are lots of nuggets to pick from this interview and young Nigerian entrepreneurs can learn a lot from this young guy. Please, read on;
1. May we know you ( your general bio data; name, age, place of residence, etc)
Well, my name is Nitesh Gupta and I am a resident of New Delhi, India.
I am at present 22 years old.
2.Can you give us a brief insight into your education background?
My preliminary education (0-12 yrs) has taken place in a small town in India and my higher education (12-21 yrs) in New Delhi.
I have passed out my Bachelors in Engineering from Delhi college of Engineering, New Delhi in the year 2007 in Mechanical Engineering.
I have also been a research scholar at University of Cambridge, UK during my college sophomore year.
3. Have you ever been to Nigeria? What are your affections towards Nigerians?
I have never been to Nigeria although I wish I could some day.
I have particularly a very good image of Nigeria in my mind. Well, it is the fastest growing economy in Africa with biggest oil producer of the continent and it is trying to move fast on the path of development after years of colonial rule.
I think Nigerians are in common more like Indians sharing the same cultural and strong traditional values which is a little bit distorted due to Colonial rule but is strong enough to sustain the damages.
4. Is India an import driven country like Nigeria? If not, tell us the manufacturing outfit you have?
India has very fast grown from an import driven economy in the 1980’s to the presently one of the biggest manufacturers in automobiles, pharmaceuticals, Information technology and various other fields.
The reason of this change can be attributed to our Liberalized Economy structure promoted by the government in 1990’s. India being the second most populous country in the world (approx 1 billion) its manpower has proven to be an asset to the country’s industries by providing cheap and abundant labor.
The country’s plentiful availability of natural resources viz coal, iron ore etc has lead to promotion of major industries.
5.What made you decide to be a self-employed entrepreneur @ your age?
I have always been an ambitious person with the gut feeling that; “Success lies within you; you just have to unearth it”.
Apart from this, my source of inspiration has flown from great businessmen like Dhirubhai Ambani (Late Chairman , Reliance Industries) and Bill Gates( Founder Chairman Microsoft Inc.) who have shown the world that no obstacle can stop anyone from achieving success. It’s only the will power which is needed to be made strong.
Furthermore, my father Mr. R.R. Gupta has always been an inspiration for me.
He used to live in a small village in India, used to travel 100kms daily in trains to attend his college and started his business with a very small investment which he earned by doing a small job.
With hard work and willpower he is now a successful industrialist and this inspires me to achieve even greater heights of success.
6.Tell us about the car you built?
I have been the part of the team which developed India’s first Hybrid vehicle.
The vehicle uses both sources of power viz. gasoline and electricity to run thus saving considerable amount of fuel and reducing air pollution.
We have achieved 82mpg as the mileage of our vehicle.
Our source of inspiration for this vehicle was the ever increasing problem of Global Warming which is facing the Planet earth. We wanted to show that the youth of today is not ignorant of the problems faced by today’s world and can work responsibly towards alleviating them.
As such, our efforts were praised by awarding us 1st Prize in Annual TourDeSol Championship held at Saratoga Springs, New York in May 2006 organized by Deptt of Energy, USA.
7. India has become one of the economic force to reckon with on earth; computers, pharmacies, etc. Do you believe your culture and your religions play a big role to this success?
Yes, indeed India’s success in all the fields can be attributed to the strong foundations laid down by her culture and religion.
Our Vedic culture emphasizes on attainment of Salvation through Work and preaches us to become “KaramYogiâ” meaning a person who is always focused on good work for betterment of society.
As such, people in India consider “Work as Worship” and this feeling has led to our success in various spheres of life.
8. Just a little diversion, do Indian parents still arrange marriage for their children? And is it the ladies that pay the dowry?
This is a very subjective question and depends on person to person.
India today is a mixed culture with both orthodox and modern western views embedded in the youth.
But yes, although love marriages are on rise still a majority of marriages in India are arranged by the parents and are succeeded in paying dowries by the bride’s family.
9. Do you consider yourself to have succeeded and if so, why?
I have just started my career as an entrepreneur and developing this car and showcasing it to the world through NESEA Competition was just one part of it.
I will consider myself to be succeeded in life when I will be able to bring this car on roads and in reach of the common man so that the biggest problem of planet Earth (Global Warming) can be solved.
This is my definition of success as far as my business and passion is considered.
On practical terms I would consider myself successful if I can make changes in the lives of at least some of the millions of people starving here in India and world over.
10. What is the relevance of your tricycle business to India and how do you think this will affect Nigeria?
My tricycle business is relevant in serving solution to two major problems of India.
Firstly, the high prevailing unemployment in India’s rural areas where these vehicles become a bread earner for many poor households.
We have tie-ups with Regional Banks to provide cheap loans to people in rural areas who want to buy this vehicle, these vehicles then being very strong and requiring cheap maintenance are ideal for carrying goods , to be used as passenger carrier as a taxi and various other commercial purposes.
Secondly, these vehicles are an economic mode of transportation for many people in rural areas where there are no buses or other modes of public transportation.
I think, in the same way these vehicles can prove beneficial to people in Nigeria as the terrain here is equally rough like India making these vehicles suitable and also the unemployment and other problems present are the same like India.
11. An average guy comes to you and says «Nitesh, I have got 100k Naira (840 USD) in my savings, where do I begin my business from?
Well, this is a bit tough question but answer to it is straight.
Every person in the world has one or other talent which needs to be identified.
I will advise the person to first identify his talent. He may be a good musician, a good artist, a good craftsmen or any one of many other trades.
He will have to first identify it then study in detail about his talent, work towards becoming one of the best in it and then market it to others to earn money.
And according to me, a 100k Naira will be enough to identifying yourself, building prototypes of your knowledge and then marketing them.
I will like to give my example in building my car to make the point stronger.
We were a group of 7 friends in this project. We needed something around 15000 USD to complete this car while we together had only 500USD in our savings and we didn’t want to ask for monies from our parents although our parents were capable to give that amount.
We then decided to start part time working. One of us starting taking tuitions, one started working at Mc Donald’s; I worked as a cash teller at one of the nearby malls.
In this way, we could generate about 400-500USD per month for all 7 of us.
After one year we had something 6000USD in our hand. We then started working on the project, completed the car around 35% and then contacted College authorities and other automobile companies in India to provide sponsorship.
We could then easily persuade them for 10000USD by showing our working model and hard work that went into it.
We also learnt a lesson from this: “If you beg no one will bother with you, but if you prove yourself and demand; world will be there for you”.
12. When we were discussing, you told me about building a mentoring site for Nigerian youths; can you tell my readers more about this?
I am interested in making a website where the Nigerian youth can have discussions with me directly about their problems in career.
We can then better understand the college life, living style and problems faced by an average Nigerian youth and can compare it with the Indians here.
I can then suggest them with some solutions which can be helpful for them.
13. Give us a brief detail of the normal life of a self employed entrepreneur? Do you sit around watching TV and drinking while their monies are making more money?
A self employed entrepreneur has a life quite different from that of a normal job going person or businessman. He has to be very calculative in his approach, a quick decision maker and should have a lot of patience to see success and failures before he can attain his ultimate goal.
In his life, enjoyment and entertainment too is present although they take a sideline over work which is considered to be of prime importance.
14. Nigeria is similar to India in so many ways; huge population, hot weather condition, etc; can you tell me the best way to reduce unemployment?
The best way to reduce unemployment is by “Youth Empowerment”.
Nigerian youth has to be motivated and given direction to utilize their own potential and seek opportunities to start their own cottage based or small scale based businesses which can in turn generate employment for many others.
Even if, we can convert 10% of unemployed people to self entrepreneurs this can lead to a chain reaction which will ultimately lead to path of prosperity for all.
The website we discussed in earlier points is just a small step to provide direction towards achieving that goal.
15. Can you give us a scenario where you lost a lot of money, and you used this loss as a foundation for greater profit?
Yes, one such incident has occurred to me last year only we were on the verge of developing some changes in our engine for our vehicle which would have raised the mileage by 10%.
When we were on the final stages of development one of our most trustworthy and old employees leaked this information to our competitors and they launched that concept before us. It was both a loss of money and trust.
However, I didn’t take any kind of legal action and took the decision firmly that I have to eliminate that competitor from the market and also let that employee feel his wrongdoings.
We then started vigorously on new R&D’s , launched a series of changes in our vehicles ranging from engines to silencers and all.
This led us to grab a good market share and our production became much more than our competitor.
Well, this incident motivated me much more towards my work and helped me in achieving my goal earlier than anticipated.
16. If you were to advise an upcoming entrepreneur, what would it be?
My advice will be to keep patience and believe in your self.
The life of an entrepreneur is very different and needs a lot of decision making power, patience and courage to accept success and failures.
The best way is to be honest to yourself, never cheat anyone and do your work with full effort.
Rest as written in Bhagvad Gita (Sacred Hindu book); Karamanya Vadhikaraste Maa Faleshu Kadachan
“Man has to only perform his duties, rewarding success or failure is up to GOD.”
Thank you
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