Convocation Speech by Shri Shashi Ruia, Chairman, Essar Group; Chief Guest for the 9^th Convocation of EDI's Post Graduate Programmes held on 09^th June 2007.

Inspiration - to change organizational equilibrium. An example could be the case of eBay, the result of frustration by the girl friend of founder Pierre Omidyar.

Creativity - to approach the problem with an entirely new solution instead of optimizing the current system with minor fixes. Steve Jobs is a classic example when he developed Apple.

Direct Action – The entrepreneur does not wait for someone to intervene and help, he takes direct action by creating a new product or service and the venture to take it forward.

Courage - Throughout the process, by facing the failure of risk and sharing the burden squarely.

And finally
Fortitude - to drive the creative solution to its end goal and market acceptance. FEDEX survived millions of dollars of losses and only a committed entrepreneur at the helm drove the company to continue till they reached positive cash flows and profitability. While we have not allowed the spirit of entrepreneurship to wane, we have always tried to keep with the boundaries of the legal framework and honoured all our commitments.

I must say that at the Essar Group, we have had very enriching experience of seeing how these attributes actually come into play. We have had our share of ups and downs, but we believe that our success is a result of an entrepreneurial spirit and positive attitude that flows through the entire organization.

I would now like to share my thoughts on how we see societal need creating a new breed of entrepreneurs – what we could call social entrepreneurs.

Generally an entrepreneur expects to derive personal and financial gains for his efforts and profit is essential to sustain the venture.

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