There is no age bar for entrepreneurship. It's never too late to start. Colonel Harland Sanders, founder of the Kentucky Fried Chicken, a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louiseville, Kentucky in the United States, was recognised by the world as a businessman when he was in his 60s, said Mohan Kuldeep Ponnada, CEO of a Hyderabad-based newly-launched indigenous mobile phone company Unixell, on Friday.
Speaking on “Entrepreneurship in youth”, a session organised by the Rotary Club of Vijayawada, as part of the club's ongoing New Generation Month celebrations, Mr. Mohan said the spirit of entrepreneurship was very powerful. It teaches an individual to think out of the box.
Quoting writer and management consultant Peter Drucker, who said marketing and innovation were key traits for an entrepreneur, he said at the end of the day, one's perception was all that matters.
Interaction
To keep the session lively, he insisted on interaction with the audience and asked the organisers to distribute papers and pens to them.
He then asked them to write down in 30 seconds five things that they would do with a sum of Rs.10,000 given to each of them.
The papers were then exchanged and the answers read aloud. Mohan declared a cash incentive of Rs. 200 to the best five answers.
The whole exercise was aimed at testing their entrepreneurial skills, he said and added that every entrepreneur can be a good businessman but not every businessman was a good entrepreneur.
He narrated how he was deeply influenced by the book ‘The Road to Success' by Bill Gates when he was in the fifth grade.
“I was so motivated that in the next summer holidays I called my teacher to ask if I could do a part-time job by teaching students of lower classes. She allowed and that's when I had my first earnings in my hands, a sum of Rs.600,” he shared happily.
By the time he completed SSC exam, he had worked on a word processor. After intermediate, he shifted to Australia and spent seven years there.
But the urge to walk the untrodden path and make a difference brought him back to his native soil, Hyderabad where he launched the first indigenous mobile phone company Unixell. “Home Minister Sabita Indra Reddy launched the new product in the last week of August.”
Mr. Mohan is also making a debut in a Telugu film very soon. President of the Rotary Club P. Krishnaji and others were present. A dance competition was also organised on the occasion.
