by Suman Gupta
Mumbai, 21 July 2020: Atul Nishar, President- Tie Mumbai recently participated in a My Story Session organized by TiE Pune titled “Humble Acorns become mighty oaks” and elaborately spoke about his humble beginning and his amazing entrepreneurial journey. This session was moderated by Ganesh Natarajan, Chairman 5F World &Ex CEO Zensar.
“A strong management team, new age ideas, scalability of a business and the integrity of promoter is extremely important for any business” said Atul Nishar, President- Tie Mumbai.
As a serial entrepreneur, Atul Nishar has founded many successful ventures including Hexaware Technologies Ltd, Aptech and Azent Overseas Education Ltd. He stated, that innovative ideas for entrepreneurship are all around us and we just need to look harder. He started his leasing business as a part time activity, while Computers fascinated him. He focused on computer education since it had a huge scope and that was the genesis of Aptech. When he founded Hexaware Technologies in 1990, the software market was small, but he saw it as a sunrise industry with a lot of potential. He was excited and found it challenging to advise Companies in the western world. This made him seize the opportunity.
When it comes to growth, Atul believes that scale is very important for any business. A world class management team with a solid growth strategy is imperative for any business. He gave example of the franchise route he had opted for Aptech, while for Hexaware Technologies, he picked up micro niche strategy and strived to become excellent at it. As a promoter, he strongly believes in empowering his team. Capital planning and managing investor expectation are also very crucial. There is always a premium for growth and quality among the investor community.
While elaborating on corporate planning and exit strategies, he said that both Aptech and Hexaware Technologies saw a major global slowdown. His decision to focus on one business, made him plan for his exit from Aptech and focus on software business. His decision to exit Hexaware was because he needed a break and wanted to focus on his personal time. He also needed to de-risk the large capital involved.
Atul is also actively associated with several government and trade bodies that play an instrumental role in the development of India’s IT and Startup Sector. He was the Chairman of National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) in 2000 and he continues to be on the executive council of NASSCOM. Speaking about Nasscom, he said that it is an exceptional industry association, unique in the world. There is a healthy competition and bonding for a greater cause among the member companies and Nasscom has contributed immensely to the industry with its exchange of ideas, sharing common issues and motivation. When explaining about his best learning from TiE Mumbai vis a vis Nasscom, he said that with Nasscom he encountered established companies, but TiE is more in the aspirational segment.
In his advice for entrepreneurs, he reiterated that benchmarking is very important. At Hexaware Technologies, all business parameters compared with the best in class. He impressed upon thinking Global. According to him solving a process is more important than trying to solve a problem. He also stressed upon strong accountability and review standards.
About TiE Mumbai
The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), was founded in 1992 in Silicon Valley by a group of successful entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and senior professionals with roots in the Indus region. Since 1992. TiE has been supporting entrepreneurs by offering education, mentorship, networking and funding opportunities. The mission of TiE is to foster entrepreneurship globally through the 5 pillars of TiE: mentoring, networking and education, funding and incubation. Dedicated to the virtuous cycle of wealth creation and giving back to the community. TiE’s focus area is to generate enable the next generation of entrepreneurs. There are currently 11,000 members, including over 2,500 charter members in 60 chapters across 17 countries. TiE’s mission is to foster entrepreneurship globally through mentoring, networking, and education. Dedicated to the virtuous cycle of wealth creation and giving back to the community, TiE’s focus is on generating and nurturing our next generation of entrepreneurs.
