Convocation Address of Shri Anil Ambani, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Limited; Chief Guest for the 5th Convocation of EDI's Post Graduate Programmes held on 13^th September 2003.

My father, Dhirubhai Ambani, a proud son of this glorious state of Gujarat, and a man with long ties with this wonderful city of Ahmedabad, was the greatest example of this spirit of entrepreneurship ! In a short span of less than 25 years, and without even the benefit of a formal education, Dhirubhai Ambani built Reliance, a first generation enterprise, into one of the world's 200 most profitable companies ! He started out in life, working as a mere petrol pump attendant in Aden, Yemen. He had no technical knowledge of any of the businesses he wished to create in India. He had just five hundred rupees in his pocket, a vision of what he wanted to achieve, an intrinsic faith in the latent demand potential of the Indian markets, a belief in the capabilities of Indian people, and a burning desire to succeed ! The end result ?

He created Reliance, a Rs. 75,000 crore enterprise, in a single lifetime ! We must, each one of us, take inspiration from Dhirubhai's extraordinary life, and challenge ourselves, to build on his achievements, to fulfill his desire, of one day making India an economic superpower.

I would like to now share with you, some of my own thoughts on entrepreneurship - especially, things that do not, normally, form a part of the curriculum, at management institutions ! I believe the first, and perhaps the most important, requirement for success, as an entrepreneur, is a passion for your work - to be able to look forward to every new day of work with a sense of optimism, with a sense of purpose, with a sense of challenge, and with a view to enjoying the work you are doing. I have found that the happiness, which comes from this passion, and from the achievement and recognition that follows, is more lasting, and far surpasses anything based on earning a little more wealth, or obtaining greater material comforts. Of course, it is not enough for just you, as an entrepreneur, to have this sense of romance about your work.

What is important is to get the entire organisation seized, with this same sense of passion, and enjoyment, for work. It is one of the most commonly accepted myths of our times that entrepreneurial success, is all about entrepreneurial abilities of an individual. In reality, far from being a solitary pursuit, entrepreneurial success is a highly collaborative process. A good entrepreneur has to bring out creative ideas and the entrepreneurial spirit from all his people. This can happen only when the sense of passion, and romance of building a successful business, is shared by the entire organisation. Our corporate mantra at Reliance is, "We bet on people." We provide the vision, inspiration and resources to accomplish tasks, but we empower people, and we build new knowledge and new core competencies around people, fostering a spirit of teamwork and performance, across the entire organisation.

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