‘PHD in entrepreneurship stands for Passion, Hunger & Discipline’

“Entrepreneurship is not new to Indians, but scaling is,” said CK Kumaravel, Co-founder & CEO, Naturals Salon at the exchange4media Pride of India (South) Brands Summit held in Chennai on January 24.

Shared his learnings and insights around entrepreneurship, Kumaravel said: “The 20th century belongs to America, the 21st century is the Indian century. In this world, the values are hidden, trapped at different places, be it at an individual level, a company level or a community level. Business models that can unlock the hidden value using technology, will emerge as the winners,” he added.

Kumaravel gave the example of Airbnb, which used the technology to unlock the hidden value of an extra room’s availability at different places. “It thus became the world’s number one hotelier,” he said. Similar was the scenario with brands like Uber, Ola, Swiggy and Zomato, Kumaravel shared. “If you connect the dots here, these brands will be the winners of the new world.”

He feels that the illiterates of the 21st century are not the ones who can’t read and write, but are the ones who cannot learn, unlearn and re-learn. “Especially after Covid, how much are we going to unlearn and how much are we going to re-learn, is what will determine being a winner and a true entrepreneur,” Kumaravel mentioned in his speech.

According to him, entrepreneurship is not about an MBA degree, a big surname or about having lakhs of money in the bank. It is about identifying a problem and finding a solution to fix it. “It is about our ability to think differently, when we see a problem. Can we then think ‘here is an opportunity’? Then you are ready for entrepreneurship,” he said.

In India, Kumaravel says, there exist a lot of problems, it has a billion-dollar opportunity. Speaking of how his father came up with the innovation of sachet shampoos, he said, “My father said, what a rich person is able to enjoy, the poor people should be able to afford. In the late 70s or 80s shampoos were affordable only by the big people, ‘rich’ people. Today it has reached everywhere.”

He also shared how his father was advised to patent this idea. “I would like to thank my father for not patenting this idea. Sachet should be available for every product in India, that’s what entrepreneurship is all about,” he mentioned.

Kumaravel advised that one should not come to entrepreneurship to make money. “There is an easier way to make that,” he said. “When you come to entrepreneurship, it is an opportunity to express yourself and create a positive impact on society.”

Sharing about how he started his entrepreneurial journey, Kumaravel said, “In life, you have two choices – discuss or decide. People who discuss don’t decide, people who decide don’t discuss. I decided to start my own business and that marked the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey.” A point that Kumaravel sticks by even today is that one wants to be successful in business, one needs to be unreasonable. “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man makes the world adapt to him,” he added.

To conclude Kumaravel shared that to him, the PHD in entrepreneurship, stands for Passion, Hunger and Discipline. “Passion will get you started, hunger will help you survive and discipline gives you the track to run on, towards your goal,” he said.