An entrepreneur’s manifesto – Monoranjan Roy, CMD Pincon Spirit

An entrepreneur’s manifesto – Monoranjan Roy, CMD Pincon Spirit

Have you noticed, how, when we seek the blessings of our elders, they pray for our triumph, wishing that we become successful Engineers, Doctors, Judges, Barristers … but never Entrepreneurs? “Go forth my child, and earn your stripes in Business” has never been, and is still not, the commonly used phrase to bless the young ones raring to enter into the productive phases of their lives. And herein lies the crux of our risk-averse, enterprise abhorring, industry repulsed problems – the epicenter of the economic woes of our own making.

It was once famously said that “if you don’t chase your dreams, someone else will hire you to chase theirs”. Point is, we not only refuse to follow our dreams with stoic denial characteristic of the mediocre to stand out in the crowd, but actually take pride in spending our lives in the dedicated service of others, who harness our talents to feather their nests. “Learning from the burning ghats, we humbly submit ourselves in the service of your esteemed institution and your exalted self”. Sounds servile and sickening to me, but sadly, was and continues to be the norm. As a people, we take pride in the fact that we have the lowest attrition rates here in the state, irrespective of the work conditions. The fact that we are programmed to serve; to seek solace in the monthly paycheck as opposed to taking destiny by the horns has been our biggest bane. That we are taught to submit, often without questioning and continue to put in our labour with unflinching loyalty and not to venture out, to chase the rainbows of our dreams is what has restrained us, pushing us deeper into this morass of apathy, of inactivity that we find us now in.

Mother Nature has blessed this land of ours with everything – fertile land, favourable climatic conditions, locational advantages, bounty of minerals, intellectually inclined, easily skill able manpower, huge markets and yet we have repeatedly, some say famously, failed to realise our full potential. Even a cursory glance will tell you that the reason behind this “historic blunder”, this abject failure is our inability to throw up successful entrepreneurs. We have everything that industry needs, except the industrialist – the man to harness all the means of production and deploy them gainfully for the creation of wealth. It is indeed sad that the term “son of the soil entrepreneur” has become an oxymoron in the state.

Our brightest and the best children go out of the state in search of opportunities. The value they add to the production chain is well documented. Yet, we do precious little to ensure that this bran drain is stopped, reversed, to aid the economic regeneration of the state. Yes, we have everything that they need to succeed. But have we convincingly argued in favour of their staying back? Have we encouraged them to use their talents – not as mere employees, but as entrepreneurs – to create wealth for themselves and the economy that has nurtured them? Have we taught them not to be obsessed with the fear of failure and to focus on the success instead?

When the oceans of opportunity are churned the nectar and the hemlock arise in equal measures. Just because there is an equal opportunity of hemlock rising to the surface should not deter those in search of the nectar of success. Similarly, the prospect of failure should not deter those who seek to embrace success, for they are the two sides of the same coin. We, as a people, have spurned the coin of entrepreneurship for too long – rejecting the successes that should rightfully have been ours in the fear of the failure that we should have learnt to take on our stride a long time back.

Come, the time has come to shrug off our inertia to pick up the gauntlet life has thrown. Come, let us embrace enterprise. Let us stop wiling our lives as employees and become entrepreneurs. Let us set the examples that successive generation of elders will cite in front of the young seeking blessings.

“Go forth my child, be a successful entrepreneur”. Amen!

(Monoranjan Roy is a youngest first generation entrepreneur, who, by dint of his sheer hard work, has built up the PSL Group, over which he presides as the Chairman & Managing Director. Pincon Spirit Limited has five distinct revenue streams – business verticals, if you may – Alcoholic Beverages, Edible oil, Lifestyle, Real Estate & Education; making it virtually unassailable and almost immune to commodity and market cycles. Within the alcoholic beverages segment, it has a near dominating presence in all the product categories and is the proud owner of some of the most valuable brands. He is widely acknowledged for his devoted contribution to the popularisation of the traditional country spirit and has some very exciting growth plans for PSL in the future.)