I accidentally discovered my speech to young entrepreneurs in IIT Kharagpur in 2010

Dear Friends at IIT Kharagpur

Good afternoon all.

This is my first visit to this part of the world. I am loving what I have seen in the last few hours. I want to congratulate the IIT Kharagpur E-Cell team for putting together this wonderful event that is going to shape the thinking of these young minds. I also thank you for inviting me to share my thoughts on Entrepreneurial Opportunities in Green Business space. If at the end of my presentation if at least one of you goes on to set up a successful green business, I will join the organizers in rejoicing.

In my presentation, I will talk about the changing ecosystem around us, then move onto the green business opportunities, specifically talking about the opportunity in Green Buildings and give some examples and end with sharing what New Ventures India does to help green entrepreneurs.

But before I start, I would like to get to know a bit about you.

• By show of hands could you please let me know how many of you already have run or are running a business?
• How many want to run a business as soon as you get out of this hall or within the next 6-12 months, or work with a risky start up?
• How many want to get the work experience with established big company or an MNC to get the experience and exposure?

?Let me tell you, there is nothing wrong or right in these choices. My advice to you is that you should have an open mind, listen to all the advice that you get about the various career options, sleep over it and then take a decision that is based on your honest and objective judgment of your own interest and talents, aspirations and temperament. And mind you, these things change with time and exposure.

Let us start with a small exercise and I request you all to humor me for a few minutes. All of you please raise your right hand and I will request you to point me in a direction shortly. Now please close your eyes and without peeking and looking around, point towards North. Please hold it there and do not change the direction now. Open your eyes and look around.

I think we are evenly divided in all four directions. It appears we cannot decide which option is best by ‘Ask the audience’ lifeline. Thank you and keep you hands down and relax.

So, what do we do? May be watch 3 idiots and decide your chosen path through inner calling? Even the 3 monkeys have moved with the changing times.

Talking of change, in the third century BC Pericles had said you cannot step into the same river twice. Cleon later modified that by saying you cannot even enter the same river once! They both were talking about the speed of change. By the time you decide and take action to enter the river, the water would have flown ahead.

If they said this in 3rd century BC, I wonder what they would have said today. Change brings with it at least three human reactions – some people cannot adapt to the change and fall by the way side. Majority of the people, grudgingly or otherwise, accept and adapt to the change and move on. Then there are some who seek opportunities that the change tends to throw up and benefit themselves and others immensely.

I expect IIT Khargpurians to fall in this category. Come think of it, the cream of Indian talent is sitting in this hall today.

Now what type of opportunities does the change throw up?

• It could be in the field of technology – new technologies are developed as per the needs of the society and consumer and our own growing knowledge base
• The demography, growing aspirations and disposable income influence the market trends and consumer behavior. This opens up new challenges and opportunities. Like the movement away from animal fur, vegetarianism and now the growing trend towards ‘going green’.
• Globalisation opens up new problems and opportunities.

A problem for many is an opportunity for the smart!

Twenty years ago, it was the Information technology that appeared on the scene as a big opportunity. I feel the next generation belongs to the people who embrace green business.

Now let us see what opportunities are there in the green business space.

When you see the huge canvas of opportunities in front, it is interesting how the obvious winners emerge. When you ask young Mumbaikars about their career options, you will hear them talk about becoming a Doctor or an engineer or a Sachin Tendulkar. In Kharagpur I may hear the young saying Doctor, engineer or becoming a Dada.

The same trend will emerge in green businesses. The obvious choices will be the Power industry, solar, biomass and so on. They will obviously be there, and we cannot ignore them. But I would encourage your sharp brains to be creative and identify the big pain points and address them with your creative solutions. I will give you some examples.

But let me first narrate a story of a king who had gone to the jungle for a hunting trip. Due to unfortunate combination of poor planning and unexpected happenings the king found himself cornered in a dangerous spot. One of his soldiers then very skillfully extricated the King out of the danger and brought him back to the palace safe and sound. The King was very happy and gave him two choices – one, a bag filled with Rs.50,000 or an IOU, which will pay him 1 paisa on the day one, double that – 2 paise on the day two, 4 paise on the day three and so on, for one month.

If you were in his situation which option would you take? IOU preferers please raise their hand. Now the ones who would rather take the Rs. 50,000.

Let us see which option is good. If you had taken Rs. 50,000 you would be rich on the first day and enjoy the feeling. But, if you had taken the second, then on the thirtieth day, you would be richer by about Rs. 54 lakhs, and if it happened to be the month of January as we are in today, you would end up being a karodpati.

This urges us to think through the benefits of our actions for today and at a later date. Let me give you some examples of green thinking leading to successful businesses.

LaHay and Fortune met a mentor that I personally know when they were starting out a digital print business in Surrey, UK. She looked at their enthusiasm and she asked how many digital print businesses serve that area. They said there are 6 of them. She asked what is that you are offering that is different so people should come to you? This set them thinking and they came back after a month, very excited. They had done some real thinking and now it is a highly successful digital print service called PB Copy. It is completely green. They use 100% customer recycled paper, and more interestingly, their printers are all fed by off grid energy – powered by the customers pedaling the connected cycle.

Closer home, in New Delhi, EnNatura has picked up a technology developed by IIT Delhi and commercialized an eco-friendly printing ink system, based on renewable feedstock, which is completely emission free. The printing ink system reduces emissions by 95% and reduces the total operating costs of the printer by 10-15%, thus solving the greater environmental pain at an economic price point. Green is not expensive with them.

Offset printing industry consumes around 200 million tones of paper which makes its way to land fills post consumption. It also emits 500,000 Tonne of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions which are a health hazard for around 2-3 million printing press workers globally and are also responsible for smog formation and ozone depletion.

EnNatura’s inks reduce the eco-footprint of printing in the following way:

a)????At the printing press level, by reducing the VOC emissions by 95-99 %

b)????At the post consumer paper level, as paper printed from EnNatura’s inks has dramatically better recyclability.

There is another example where Conserve HRP in New Delhi buys all the waste plastic from 300 odd rag pickers and converts into high quality ladies purses which are sold all over Europe. These are retailed at about 80 euros each. Both Ennatura and Conserve HRP have been supported by NVI and have got venture funding. I will talk about it soon.

So, the opportunities are there if you look around. For today’s purpose, let me now go a bit deeper into the Green Building space.

The need for green building was felt due to the fact that Building & Construction sector is a major contributor to global warming: It accounts for

25 – 40% of global energy consumption

30 – 40% of solid waste generation

30 – 40% of Global Green House Gas Emissions

So, what is the difference between a green building and a conventional building when they both look alike and serve the same purpose?

The difference lies in the fact that the green building conserves natural resources and brings greater inner environmental quality and human well being. It reduces energy consumption by 40-50% and water consumption by 20-30%

So the opportunities are there. How to tap into them?

I remember when I was growing up and through my university days and beyond, I had many interesting ideas, which I thought could change the world, the way we live, and so much energy to go with it. But there was not a single soul who could understand me, leave alone provide me the guidance I was yearning for. For my fellow students I was the University topper and Gold Medallist. For me, I was a confused soul just floating with the tide. The entrepreneurial ecosystem was not evolved in India then. In the process, many ideas died their natural death in situ. I lost out on what could have been, my family lost out and I dare say, the nation lost out. I went to Australia, got the ecosystem support that I needed and succeeded in my own business.

And, the real sad part of the story is, mine is not a unique or an isolated case. If what happened to me is widespread, what a colossal national waste? Fortunately, things have and are changing a lot in recent years in India. A new entrepreneurial zeal is being complemented by an evolving support ecosystem. Here you have access to the E-Cell that is so ably providing you access to information and support. I complement Professor Partha Pratim Chakraborty, Prof. Dhrubesh Biswas, Prof KD Raju, Prof. KK Guin and the student members. I am also happy to talk about a new ally that you can depend on to grow with and achieve your cherished green business goals – its called New Ventures India.

But before doing that, I want to start with two anecdotes. I had recently attended a beautiful qawwali recitation by Sabri brothers in Hyderabad. One line that stuck a chord with me went something like this – khushboo ko phailne ka bahot shouq hai magar, yeh na mumkin hai hawaon se rishta banaye bagair. How beautifully said! How pregnant with a message in our entrepreneurial context. ?Now think about it! What do you need for a successful business? You need to have an extra ordinary business idea to implement, or you start with an ordinary idea, which you execute extraordinarily well. In either of the cases you require to understand, use and live with your ecosystem around you. And what does this ecosystem comprise of? It is the infrastructure, the policies, the people, their needs, the mindsets and so on. In my opinion, the mind set is of greater value and to prove my point I wish to share a story about a Maize farmer who consistently won the award in a prestigious best crop competition. He did a lot a research and sourced the best variety of seeds. One day when he was showing the judges around his farm, he also took them to his neighbors’ fields and said how he also gave them the seeds and persuaded them to plant them in their fields too. The judges were perplexed. They did not understand how a person could invest all the effort and money to research the best variety and then give his secret away to his competitors. They asked him why?

Could anyone explain why he could have done that?

His answer was very revealing and there is a message for all of us here. He said why Sir? Don’t you know? The pollen grains are blown by winds to large distances, and if my neighbors are planting inferior varieties, my own crop will not be the best.

One can grow taller in one of the two ways – either you trample others and stand on their shoulders so you are the taller. Or, you take them along and grow with them in a huge wave and you grow taller. Time has come now to look at this new paradigm. Because this is more powerful, equitable and hence sustainable.

NVI works out of CII-Green business centre in Hyderabad which is a Centre of excellence for Energy, Environment, Water, Renewable Energy, Green Buildings and climate change activities in India. It is the first Platinum Rated Green building in the world outside of USA and I take this opportunity to invite you to the centre when you are next in Hyderabad. New Ventures India is a joint initiative of CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre and the World Resources Institute. New Ventures is a global program operating for over ten years now in Mexico, China, Indonesia, Brazil and in India, since 2006. We are supported by USAID, UKFCO and Citi Foundation.

What does NVI do? We try to support innovative, scalable, profitable green businesses by providing free mentoring support and linkages to the market and funding opportunities. NVI is not a fund. We are facilitators. CII has a century old industry network and WRI is a global think and do tank in the sustainability space. We leverage that. We also collaborate with various institutions and individuals in the space for all round benefit. We have a Steering committee comprised of various VC funds, Banks etc and is currently chaired by Mr. Vijay Chandok of ICICI Bank. We have a coaches network headed by Dr Saurabh Srivastava and they provide free mentoring support to our portfolio companies. We also have a Green Investors Network comprised of various kinds of Investors who are keen to look at potential deals in green business space.

In the last four years, we have selected, mentored and showcased 41 enterprises and I am happy to share that 11 of them actually got funded to the tune of approximately Rs. 96 crores.

This year, we are planning to showcase 25 enterprises. If you are running a business in any of the following areas

·??????Renewable energy??

·??????Energy Efficiency

·??????Green Building Materials

·??????Clean Technologies?????????

·??????Ecotourism??????????????????????

·??????Organic Agriculture

·??????Waste Management and Recycling?????????????????????????????????

·??????Water technologies

·??????Any other environmentally sustainable, profitable business ventures.

NVI looks forward to receiving your business plan in the format that is provided on our website – www.newventuresindia.org and looks forward to being of assistance to you.

One last thought I want to leave you with – Think big, think win-win-win.

I want to hear from all of you kichu bobsha korte to habbe!

Thank you.

Hemant Nitturkar

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