Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Inimitable Business Style of Desi Entrepreneurs

While going up from Haridwar to the heights of Badrinath and coming down from there to Haridwar, journalists Hemant Tiwari, Siddharth Kalhans and I spent nearly 30 hours travelling in the same car. Obviously, we talked and discussed a range of issues and topics. We all marvel at the entrepreneurial skill of two persons- Baba Ramdev and Mahashaya Dharampal, who has passed a few days back at the ripe old age of 100 years. Mahasha ji. as he was called, was just a literate person with no academic degree. He was plying Tanga in old Delhi after migrating from Pakistan. He started grinding spices at his house to supplement his income. In due course of time, he became the shahenshah of masalas. His MDH brand spices are now sold all over the world and enjoy the status of uncrowned king.  I have met him twice with a leading lawyer HL Kumar, who recommended him to engage me for some legal cases.
There has been a striking similarity in both personalities. Both have been ardent Arya Samajis. Their personal life has been irreducibly simple. Both never possessed academic degrees. They never engaged models and other professionals for advertising their products. As a business journalist Kalhans says that both of them must be complimented for keeping the predatory multi-national companies at bay. These multinational companies do not bat even an eyelid to destroy Desi companies. They burn thousands of crores in defaming and destroying the business empires and goodwill of Desi companies. Their only morality is to establish the hegemony of their produces at any cost.
Therefore, if Baba Ramdev and Mahasha ji have been able to beat the multinational companies by giving quality products at highly completive prices, there is something remarkable in them. It hardly needs to be mentioned that it is Baba Ramdev, who made Yoga egalitarian, which was confined only to some elitists. Yoga was considered to be esoteric but thanks to Baba Ramdev, Sri Sri Ravishankar ji Maharaj and Narendra Modi, it has become a household pastime for the good of all.
Thousands of young boys and girls have got gainful employment as Yoga teachers across the world. Similarly, many lakhs are engaged in floriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, dairy farming and producing and selling of Patanjali products. Do you think if there has been any compromise with the quality of their products, multinational companies had spared from brutally slaughtering them in the broad daylight?
Most importantly, the Indian capital remains in India as they have successfully prevented its flight to other countries. They have not only faced the tough challenges of the multinational companies but have beaten them with their sticks.

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