Nagpur: Under ‘ Make in India’ initiative, SME’S which currently is growing at a rate of 12-13%, will have an important presence in Defence, Manufacturing, Technology, Transportation and Health care sectors in the days to come said Jagdish Ramaswamy, President Business Excellence, Aditya Birla Group while delivering a talk on ‘ Tips for SME’s to scale up to the next level’ this evening.
The talk was organized by Entrepreneur Forum of VIA.
Elaborating on the subject he said, if companies have survived and grown big , it can largely be attributed to their ability to meet the customer’s demand , before they ask for it. He said that SME’s should be in adaptable mode, if they want to grow for which they must cultivate the ability to change. There could be a plethora of ideas, but the main issue is execution of the idea, which largely differs from company to company. SME‘s need to innovate from time to time and should imbibe the spirit of change management. The Leadership need not rest with Entrepreneur himself, it can be with anybody – anyone who can safely steer the ship to its destination by overcoming the challenges. So SME’S must learn to invest wisely in manpower.
According to. Ramaswamy, SME’s should pay utmost importance to the selection, training and retention of manpower. A company need be a conglomeration of brilliant people, even average people can make a company grow provided the right person is put to the right job. The company should know to extract the best out of its people so that you have people who can offer excellence and unlimited ability to improve the quality of what you have to offer to the customers. Special attention should be paid to transparency in all aspect of business if SME’s wishes to really grow. Business should be made consumer centric and the motto should be ‘Quality First’. Many SME’S fail to scale up, due to the inconsistencies in the quality of their products and services. Two out of five SME’s shut shop because they are not able to sustain quality wise.
He laid special emphasis on digital and technological adaptability of SME’s and Supply chain management. SME’S can invest in technology by making use of opex model of IT. In the days to come SME’S will have to brace themselves for the tracking system, where the customer would keep abreast with each stage of production. SME’S can invest in long term customer relationship and take their ideas to the next level. He advised that SME’S should soon prepare themselves for proximity to the customer’s and take a call on whether to have a single centralized set up or a multi point unit to have a close contact with the customer. The main challenges the SME’S face today is the Liquidity crunch, business continuity and need for transparency which makes it extremely hard to hide the mistakes.
Mr Ramasway advised that if the SME’S are serious about scaling up, they should focus on the areas of resource management, especially people, have a succession planning, judiciously use working capital and reduce cash transaction. He said that you must allow the people working for you, to grow with you. The other areas which SME’S must pay special attention is customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, productivity, cash flow, gross margin and the right use of technology. He highlighted that you should start business only if you have a purpose and have a discipline which is the only way in which you can scale up.
Earlier, Atul Pande, President – VIA gave the welcome address and also welcomed Jagadish Ramaswamy with floral bouquet. Akash Agrawal, Chairman, Entrepreneurship Forum briefed about the activities of the Forum. Anita Rao, Convener, Entrepreneurship Forum introduced the speaker and also conducted the proceedings. Ashit Sinha, Mentor of VIA Forums summed up the programme and proposed a vote of thanks.
Prominently present were Suhas Buddhe, Hon Secretary – VIA, O S Bagdia & Suresh Rathi, Vice Presidents of VIA, Naresh Jakhotia, Jt Secretary.
