At 13, he had wanted to design a frequency counter for which he needed a part he could not afford. He simply looked up the yello pages to find none other than Bill Hewlett to ask for the part. He not only received the part, but also landed a summer job at HP!

2. He played by no one’s rules. He did not play even by his own rules.

He was not bound by any limitations that people normally force on themselves. He was adept at what he called Akido moves. When he was trying to persuade the music industry to adopt a new business model of selling unbundled singles for 99 cents, he did not bow down to pressure even from biggies like Sony, and di not allow them the agency model. Because he could get away with it. However, when he was reinventing the books industry, he allowed the publishers the agency model and allowed them to set prices because Apple wasn’t the first in the books industry, Amazon was.

3. He was unafraid to be himself

As a young college drop out, he had stood outside video maker atari and refused to move until they gave him a job. He got his first job!

He was perhaps the first CEO to teach history that he ticked none of the boxes to be a competent CEo, s he went on to become one of the greatest legendary CEOs.

4. He had a consuming passion for everything he did

Even if he was designing a building, he wanted it to be the best office building in the world. Often, he imagined the dream design and then set out his forces to look for/ invent suitable material and technology to build the product.

5. He never did things for the money.

Though he never lost sight of profit, it wasn’t his goal ever. He forsake his salary and didn’t earn a single dollar as Apple’s CEO. He even sold all his shares in Apple so as to have moral authority. However, after he had turned around Apple, he wouldn’t hesitate to ask the Board for a private jet because he hated to wait at airport queues.

6. He was obsessed with leaving legacies and signatures
He was a perfectionist, whether it was designing the apple stores or making Toy Story. Jobs’ friend Larry Ellison of Oracle would recall the numerous versions of Toy story that he would be asked to see again and again. He designed a signature campus that would express the company values for generations. He personally negotiated with Beatles to be on iTunes.

7. He was obsessed with design
Design was a matter of life and death for him literally. Once he was undergoing a surgical procedure and he was sedated and an oxygen mask was put on his face. Even in his sedated state, he was so particular about the design that he ripped off his mask and asked to see five different masks so he could choose the design.

He was such an artiste that at his last edifice there was not a single straight piece of glass in the building – everything was curved. He said “I think we have a chance at building the best office building in the world”.

8. He believed i empowering humanity
Though he did not have the social graces to put himself in other people’s shoes, he cared deeply about empowering human kind and putting the right tools in their hands.

He offered cut throat advice to CEOs who sought it.

His advice to google’s Larry Page – Keep the company from getting flabby or being larded with B players. a players like to be with A players.

His advice to Obama – You are headed for a one term presidency unless you fix regulations, unnecessary costs and education.

He went so far as to say about Obama – “He is having trouble leading because he is reluctant to offend people or piss them off. Yes that’s not a problem I ever had.”

He was unexpectedly philanthropical to businesses. He declared “one of my personal projects this year, I have decided, is to try and help – whether they want it or not – the Times. I think it is important to the country for them to figure it out”.

His advice to Bill Clinton – “I don’t know what you did. But, if you did it, you ‘ve got to tell the country now”.

9. He held talented people in high regard

Despite his imperious disdain of everyone, he held talented people in high regard , including one VC John Doerr. It was Doerr who had argued with a control obsessed Jobs that permitting apps would spawn a profusion of new entrepreneurs who would create new services. After persuasion, Jobs figured out that he could have the best of both worlds – permit developers to write apps yet have tight control.

That single decision influenced by a VC to build the app store created a billion dollar industry overnight. Apple had paid out $2.5bn to app developers by june 2011. John Doerr went on to create an iFund of $200m to offer equity for the best ideas.

10. He loved beauty
He cried profusely at what he called artistic purity, be it music, desig or Shakespeare.

He once told Yoyoma who played Bach – “your playing is the best argument I have ever had for the existence of God, because I really dont believe a human alone can do this. ”

Arifa Khan

” The Future is Mobile – Z to A of Mobile Marketing!”

Featuring

Russell Buckley, Admob’s evangelist at Google, Vice President Global Alliances and  and Managing Director, Europe

Rob Jonas, Managing Director, Europe & Middle East, Inmobi,

Former Director of Strategic Partnerships, Google

Venue (to be confirmed)

RCOG

Adjacent to London Business School

Regent Park

London

NW14SA

Date

19th August 2010

Time

6:30 pm to 9:30pm

Genius Incubator in association with The Private Equity & Venture Capital club of London Business School proudly presents

A panel disussion like never before, with veteran venture capitalists from Silicon Valley and Europe

Venue

London Business School

Regent Park

London NW14SA

Date

30th September 2010

Time

6:45 pm to 9:30pm

Featuring Speakers

Sonali De Rycker, Partner, Accel Partners

Sonali has been active in the European venture business for nearly a decade. At Accel Partners, Sonali focuses on investments in the internet (consumer and business centric), digital media and software markets. Sonali sits on the boards of KupiVIP, Wonga, Seatwave.com, Ubiquisys and Watagame.com. Prior to Accel, Sonali was a Partner at Atlas Venture in London where she invested primarily in internet businesses for 8 years. While at Atlas Venture Sonali sat on the boards of Moo, Bizzenergy, Globoforce,Skinstore and Seatwave (where she was the founding investor). She was also a board member atMagicalia (acquired by Exponent Private Equity), Sendit (acquired by Pilton) and Moreover (acquired by Verisign). Before joining Atlas Venture, Sonali was a member of Deutsche Bank’s Venture Group in London.

Sonali started her career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs in New York City where she was actively involved in M&A and financings for a number of clients including many high growth technology businesses. While at Goldman Sachs Sonali co-founded the Business Development Group, a new business unit within the investment banking division successfully set up to exclusively source and execute on acquisitions of smaller, fast growing businesses for the Fortune 50.

Sonali attended Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania where she received a full merit based scholarship and graduated magna cum laude in Economics with Honours. Sonali holds an M.B.A from Harvard Business School. Sonali was born and raised in Bombay, India and speaks fluent Hindi and some Punjabi.

Davor Hebel, Principal, Fidelity Growth Partners

Davor is a Principal in the London office of Fidelity Growth Partners and focuses on internet, software investments and gaming. He is currently on the Board of Directors of Asset Control , Seatwave and Innogames. Davor was co-founder and supervisory board member for private equity-funded Experia, a tourism startup based in Croatia. Davor spent several years at McKinsey and Company, where he advised companies in the United States and Europe on issues in strategy and technology.

Davor holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Angelo State University, a Masters in Science in Information Systems Management from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Nigel Grierson, Managing Director and Founder of the Doughty Hanson Technology Fund.

Nigel’s specific areas of expertise include financial venture investment, high technology marketing andorganisation development.

Previously Nigel was the Group Director for Intel Capital Europe, managing a team responsible for making strategic equity investments and developing new business opportunities throughout Europe.  He and the team together originated and invested in over 35 technology start-up companies, many of which became substantial public companies. Prior to joining Intel Nigel worked at AT&T in the Communications Product Division leading a team developing high performance silicon processors, and also at Schneider Electric developing industrial process control systems.

Charles Elliott,  Founder, Inflection Point Investments

Charles is a veteran of stock markets for over 30 years. He joined SG Warburg & Warburg Investment Management in 1977 as a graduate trainee before moving to Rowe & Pitman in 1979 to found their Tokyo Equity Research Department. In 1985, Charles joined Goldman Sachs to run their Japanese Equity Research Department. Key  multibagger recommendations made over the period includedNintendo, Tokyo Electron, Shimano and Unicharm, and he was voted No. 1 foreign analyst in Japan 19871990 in the Nikkei polls of investors.

In 1992, Charles moved back to Europe, and ran Goldman Sachs’ Special Opportunities/ emerging Growth research products for 15 years nad was voted No. 1/ No. 2 PanEuropean Technology analyst 1997-2000 based on polls by institutional Investor, Reuters and Extel. Charles founded Inflection Point Investments in February 2007 with the aim of geerating high absolute returns in a wide variety of market conditions.

Kathleen Bacon, Partner, Harbourvest Partners

Kathleen Bacon is a managing director who concentrates on managing European and other non-U.S. primary partnership investments.  She has also been involved with direct and secondary partnership investments.  Kathleen joined the Firm’s London subsidiary in 1994 and serves on the advisory boards of a number of private equity partnerships.

Kathleen’s prior experience includes a position with the First National Bank of Boston, where she was responsible for lending to U.S. subsidiaries of U.K.-owned companies.

Kathleen received a BA in Russian from Dartmouth College in 1986 and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in 1993.

Patrick Reeve, Partner, Albion Ventures

Patrick qualified as a chartered accountant with Deloitte Haskins & Sells before joining Cazenove & Co where he spent three years in the corporate finance department. He joined Close Brothers Group in 1989, initially in the development capital subsidiary, where he was a director specialising in the financing of smaller unquoted companies. He joined the corporate finance division in 1991, where he was also a director. He established Close Ventures’ activities with the launch of Close Brothers Venture Capital Trust PLC in the spring of 1996. Patrick became managing partner of Albion Ventures (formerly Close Ventures) in 2009. He read modern languages at Oxford University. Patrick’s investments inclcude:

• Evolutions Television
• Q Gardens
• Sparesfinder

Following the success of Venture Lab I, Genius Incubator in association with Cass Business School invites early-stage and growth-stage entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs, CASS students and alumni to Venture Lab II.

Networking at Venture Lab 10th June at CASS Business School

Event Agenda:

10th June 2010, Thursday

Registration: 6:15pm

Talks & Q&A : 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm

4 VCs and distinguished entrepreneurs will explain the mechanics of raising venture capital and speak on topics relevant to entrepreneurs on their journey to success.

Watch the video of our last event Venture Lab on Getting Investment Ready at LBS : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBsiY04lIXI

Confirmed Speakers:

Susan Payne, Chief Executive Officer, Emergent Asset Management

Susan Payne

Susan has had a distinguished career spanning over 2 decades in the financial industry on both the sell side and the buy side, as an emerging markets trader at Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, and later as a distinguished entrepreneur.

Susan was listed by Financial News as one of the Top 100 Women in Finance in Europe in both 2007 and 2008. Susan was awarded one of eight Shell UK Women of the Future Awards 2006.

Susan was appointed a Merrill Lynch/Shell UK Women of Achievement Ambassador in 2008.

In 1997, Susan founded Emergent Asset Management Limited, an award –winning, alternative investment firm based in the UK, where she is a Principal. In addition to its stable of hedge funds, Emergent manages the largest agricultural fund in Africa, where its local office is based in South Africa.

Susan is on the Board of MyC4, a microfinance business focused on ending poverty in Africa, and is a Patron of the Africa-focused charity Medical Aid Films.

Susan is also Head of the London Chapter of 85 Broads, the largest professional women’s network
in the world.

Alan Barrell, Managing Partner, Cambridge Gateway Fund, Early stage biotechnology & lifesciences investor and mentor

Alan Barrell

Dr Alan Barrell is a reknowned angel investor and advisor to numerous international early stage companies, as a member of Cambridge Angels and Sophia Business Angels ( France ). He was instrumental in launching the Cambridge Gateway Fund, a 70 millions Euros fund, to support early stage technology businesses in the region and was the fund’s Managing Partner. Alan is the Chairman of Eagle Genomics Ltd, and Pneumacare Ltd, and a Director of Probe Scientific Ltd, early stage Life Science Companies. He is a Director of two Chinese Companies – Golden Bough Intellectual Property Company and Oriental Investments Ltd. He is also the Chairman of the External Advisory Board of NACUE – the National Consortium of University Enterprise Associations. Alan was CEO of Willett International Group, an industrial electronics company, and built its global business into a major success. He has also chaired the Cambridge Enterprise Conference and works closely with a number of Science Parks and Innovation Centres in Cambridge, elsewhere in the UK and overseas.Alan is currently an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Cambridge Judge Business School. Alan has been involved with a number of charities including the Papworth Trust, the Royal Society of Arts, the Centre for Tomorrow’s Company and The Prince’s Trust. He received The Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion in 2006. Access his lecture on Finding funding for your entrepreneurial business here.

James Dimitrios Constantine Seferis, Founder of Glocal Venture Capital, early stage investor and distinguished innovator

James Seferis

Dr. James Seferis is an early stage investor and a distinguished educator in chemical engineering, management science, environmental health and technology. His research comprises polymeric composites, materials and processes, clean energy. Read his ideas on “Catalytic entrepreneurship with social and venture capital” here

Since 2005, he also invests in his areas of longstanding expertise incorporating organizations that have a social mission while allowing for a profit potential. With a team of full-time professionals in seven countries and a network of over five hundred collaborators and former students in over one hundred organizations, Prof. Seferis can harness unprecedented resources for the benefit of his investments. Among his many Honors and Awards are First White House Presidential Young Investigator Award (1984) and Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation of Germany Awards (1987 and 1996).

Read his full profile here.
Hussein Kanji, early stage technology investor, Ex- Accel Partners

Hussein

Hussein, a self-confessed believer in serendipity and a high risk venture addict spent four years with Accel Partners in Europe, where he invested in Playfish, United Mobile, BountyJobs, Dapper, Netvibes and a still-in-stealth-mode open source risk management startup. A background in Silicon Valley and in enterprise software and consumer internet products influences his venture capital work. He was involved with the Accel’s investments in Dapper, Netvibes, Njini and The Cloud, and was an observer on the boards of The Cloud and Njini . Prior to joining Accel, Hussein held several roles at Microsoft Corporation, where he was involved in a leadership program won for his work on its speech recognition business, Sun Microsystems and a bevy of startups. He has an MBA from London Business School and a BS from Stanford University in Symbolic Systems. Hussein is currently a board member of Byhiras and Nivio, two startups in Europe, and spends his time between London and San Francisco. He is an avid blogger http://hkanji.com/

Topics:

“The Good, the Bad, The Ugly – stories of Real Life Entrepreneurship and Business Development” – Alan Barrell

Synopsis: Alan Barrell will speak from experience – as both entrepreneur and investor of real life business cases – illustrating some key points and principles through stories of four companies, three of which still exist, one being a FTSE star with a market capitalisation of £500m. The fortunes of the others have been mixed and one didn’t make it – and Alan will discuss the reasons why he feels it failed. He was the Chairman of the company and an investor at the time. The talk will touch on some of the key points entrepreneurs may want to take note of, not only in seeking ££££ but finding the kind of investors who bring much more than the ££££. It will also show how when funding businesses – private equity / VC is not the only way to finance fast growth companies – and he has an example of one he ran as CEO to illustrate the point. This will NOT be a theoretical – “how to present to investors” talk or a set of bullet point slides to tell the audience “what I look for as a VC” – rather a ‘warts and all’ account of the blood and guts which were the reality of four companies struggling to find finance and make it on the World stage. The companies are all technology / engineering based, but the talk will NOT be about technology per se. It will be about ‘The Good, The Bad and the Ugly’ experiences from the life of an entrepreneur / VC / business Angel”

“How do smart entrepreneurs play on VC greed and fear, to get the bucks they are after? The inside scoop – What incentives do entrepreneurs offer VCs : Participating shares, Warrants, Board seats etc” – Hussein Kanji

Valuation methodology and metrics that VCs use to value early stage businesses. Examples and Case Studies.

The 10 must dos and must haves for entrepreneurs looking to be the BIG Google or facebook of tomorrow?

The tale of a successful startup – from idea stage to dating the VCs, beauty parade, term sheet negotiations, building the company, and exit . What role do VCs play at each stage through Board participation etc?

Networking & Drinks Reception:

9:00 pm onwards

Venue:

Cass Business School

106 Bunhill Row

London, EC1Y 8TZ

Sponsor

Cass Business School

M.S. Ananth, the visionary Director of IIT Madras at Pan IIT Dec 2008

In his excellent memo ‘Looking ahead” on the occasion of IIT Madras’ golden jubilee , Director of IIT Madras, and my ex-Professor Dr M.S. Ananth reminds us of the words of Bharat Ratna Rajagopalachari, the first Indian Governor General of free India,  “If the scientists of India make up their minds, they can raise India’s prestige to a degree which will more than make up for any failures or defects in other fields”. While the Indian scientists such as Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Nobel prize winner2009 ,  are indeed bringing glory to higher research institutions they are associated with, it is the innovating Indian entrepreneurs like Desh Deshpande, Vinod Khosla, Narayana Murthy, Dr Reddy and Ratan Tata that have brought home laurels, elevating brand India to a global pedestal.

An entrepreneur has long term vision and is a grand dreamer. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is the best entrepreneur I know – he dreamt and achieved a breakthrough in the collective consciousness of India that is making our myriad and glorious ambitions in the 21st century a possibility! His Charkha was the first seed of entrepreneurship that he had sowed in India. I am using entrepreneurship loosely here to encompass not just business ideas that manifest a creative leap, but pioneering vision, and courage to dream what has not been done before and breathe life into a mere mental map. Pundit Nehru was a visionary who boldly dreamt of today’s IITs that are spawning the world’s best, most innovative and richest entrepreneurs. Sportspersons like Sachin Tendulkar, Leander Paes, Sania Mirza and actors such as Amitabh Bacchhan and Shahrukh Khan are also entrepreneurs because they break new ground and do what has not been done before, and in the process create new paths for followers to emulate. That is entrepreneurship to me, and that separates men and women who shape their destiny and ours, in the process fulfilling their unique life purpose, from those who are happy to play the hand that is dealt to them in the seemingly arbitrary game of cards called life.

Amartya Sen at Pan IIT Dec 2008, at IIT Madras

Leander Paes championing the sports enterprise 'Olympic Gold Quest" at TIE Summit Mumbai Dec 2009

India is increasingly being acknowledged as a source of innovation. The Mumbai dabbawalahs, the $2500 Tata Nano, strides in biotechnology by Shanta Biotech, Serum Institute of India, bollywood’s indelibly glamorous mark on the global entertainment industry, the IPL are a few examples.

India is a blessed land with the mighty force of a billion entrepreneurs behind it. I say this because the average Indian who ekes out a living, by whatever means, even with no social security, no infrastructure, and no predictable environment of the developed world is an entrepreneur, and absent the brainier Indian exports that are busy making their rich adopted countries richer. India still holds tremendous promise that the rich countries can only dream of. Where else can they find our born hungry entrepreneurs who are battle tested at every step and naturally trained in managing with zero budgets. Can we do more than just eke out a living for ourselves? Sure, we can. Dhirubhai did just that creating the organisation that perhaps employs the largest number of people in India.

Enterprising India!

India has a lot of catching up to do in innovativeness and to achieve what we are capable of. According to some statistics presented at the Pan IIT 2009 Chicago, Revenues per employee metric is linked to the innovativeness of the company, Google and Apple being at the top of the global companies on this metric.

The most innovative companies have the highest reveue per employee

Indian companies such as Tata and Infosys average $40k/year revenues per employee.

Microsoft’s revenues per employee are about $650k/year (120k employees)

Google $1101 k per employee ($22 billion revenues earned by 20k employees).

Oracle $260k per employee

Intel $448k per employee

Apple $1015k per employee

(Here is a side story on India’s  product innovation in outsourcing.)

India’s invention deficit :

India's Licensing revenues as % of GDP are far short of USA's

India’s GDP $3 trillion

USA GDP $14 trillion

India’s licensing revenues $0.015 billion

USA licensing revenue $1.5 billion

If India were to catch up with USA in proportion of licensing revenues to GDP, India would earn about $320 million a year from licensing.

India can leverage its strong information technology (IT) base, IT and english trained workforce, intelligent leaders at the helm like Manmohan Singh, stellar entrepreneurial visionaries scattered across the diaspora, intellectual horsepower of our scientists and economists like Amartya Sen, and low cost research and development (R&D). Featured below are a few promising sectors for Indian entrepreneurs that can propel us to the next echelons of the progress that India is destined for:

Biotechnology

Indian biotech sector is poised to grow exponentially over the next few years, with an expected global market share of 10% from just 2% in 2003.

The GOI has doubled the biotech research outlay, from Rs 6.2 billion in the Ninth Plan (1997-2002) to Rs 14.5 billion in the 10th Plan (2002-2007).  GOI has also eased the regulatory framework by approving genetically modified crops, recombinant-DNA products (rDNA) and ethical stem cell research. GOI made changes to the Patents Amendments Act (second amendments) in 2002 making Indian patents comparable to WTO and TRIPS.

The Govt. of Andhra Pradesh set up the Genome Valley, an area of 600 sq km, in 2000 to host  biotechnology firms, providing high quality infrastructure at a reasonable cost.

R&D Outsourcing

R&D outsourcing has been recognised as India’s bastion for over a decade now with peripheral towns such as Pune, Mysore, and suburbs of Hyderabad gaining traction with global outsourcers as preferred R&D locations for abundant supply of affordable scientists. Pune is the new Princeton!  The BusinessWeek-BCG survey asked companies where they planned to increase R&D spending – 44% answered India, 44% said China, and 48% said Western Europe.

Amazon India Development Center has been instrumental in developing   a9.com, Amazon’s search technology. The Google R&D center has been set up in India to create google’s next killer innovation (s). Here’s another story on India’s untapped potential to reincarnate itself as a niche manufacturer of Electronic Products

Grassroots innovation is another concept that is catching on with the educated elite, and Anil Gupta, a Professor at IIM Ahmedabad is one such proponent of micro-innovation. IIT Madras’ Rural Technology & Business Incubator helps and incubates rural entrepreneurs.

Microfinance

The estimated demand for microfinance is a staggering Rs1.2 trillion of microcredit from 120 million households. The Indian microfinance sector is estimated to have provided about Rs160 billion worth of loans as of March 2009, out of which MFIs account for Rs114 billion. The recent spate of VC deals related to Microfinance is a proof of the humungous appetite for microfinance by the common man and secular growth trend in the sector.

If you are a sexy startup (aspiring to be the next google or facebook), here are things you must know that I picked up from my VC read

Aim to scale, aim for the stars (VC money) and not the moon (angels) -

What all startups should aspire for

What repels new money in a startup and how to eliminate it

Figure out the surprising thing your customers are doing with your product. (It may not be what you intended your product to be – example Twitter)

If you are a not so sexy startup, but just a traditional SME intending to grow your business, you can still innovate..

Approximately 6-7% of India’s GDP today comes from small and medium enterprises in India (SMEs) which constitute over 15 million units and employ over 30 million people. SMEs have contributed to over a third of India’s exports consistently over more than a decade. SMEs are often beset with resource constraints that put them at a disadvantage to larger competitors who can better afford investments in innovation and R&D.

To bridge this gap, Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India’s Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) has embarked on Technology Vision 2020 in the year 2000, and has taken several key emerging areas under the “Umbrella Scheme on Technology Vision 2020 Projects in Mission Mode”:

• Agriculture and Agro Food Processing Sectors
• Health Care Services & Herbal/Natural Products
• Mission REACH
• Road Construction and Transportation Equipment
• Technology Development / Up gradation of Textile Machinery, Processes & Products
• Technology Upgradation of Select SME Clusters
• Pottery
• Synergizing S&T with Judicial Processes
• Bioprocesses and Bioproducts Programme

TIFAC invites proposals from SMEs under the above programs and offers  R&D support and financial help to SMEs such as providing 50% of project cost, excluding land and building, as soft loan with a moratorium period of 6 months for the Healthcare & Herbal/Natural products. Browse all sectors here. Read about the Effective public – private partnership for innovation – an Indian experience

I aim to continue to feature other exciting sectors such as fashion retailing, education, renewable energy in future.

Arifa Khan is the Founder and Managing Director of Genius Incubator.

Unleashing the genius in you…

The global financial crisis and the severe recession took its toll on the European P.E industry with funds raised dropping to Euro 13 billon in 2009 from Euro 82 billion in 2008. Funds invested fell to Euro 21 billion in 2009 from Euro 54 billion in 2008. However, European PE still supported close to around 4000 companies in 2009, a decline from around 6000 in 2008.

There are three paradigms emerging out of the statistics on European P.E:

1. Growth capital is emerging as the most popular form of P.E investment by a wide margin

2. UK is increasingly becoming a hub of cross border activity

3. Discernible trend towards emerging markets as the next hot bed of investment activity

Growth Capital – an emerging paradigm

Of the Euro 21 billion invested in 2009, 52.4% comprised buyouts, 7.8% replacement capital, 1.6% rescue/ turnaround, 20.4% growth capital , 8.2% later stage venture, 8.9% startup, and 0.7% seed stage. The proportion of growth capital has been steadily rising from 8% in 2007 to 14% in 2008 to 20.4% in 2009.

UK as a hub of cross-border investment

UK and Irish firms invested Euro8.6 billion in P.E of which Euro 4.7 billion were invested in UK and Euro 3.9 billion outside, of which top investment destinations emerged to be CEE, USA and Germany.

(Life sciences emerges to be the most popular sector in European P.E investments with other favored sectors  in 2009 being communications, consumer goods and retail, business and industrial products, business and industrial services, consumer services, computer and consumer electronics, energy and environment, financial services, chemicals and materials, transportation, construction and agriculture in that order.)

Discernible Trend towards emerging markets

CEE is by far the European favorite, with CEE companies benefiting from a Euro 2.2 billion investment in 2009, with Euro 1.4 billion of these coming from UK, Austria and France. The average investment size in CEE was the highest in Europe at Euro 21 million in 2009 compared to the second highest of Euro 8 million in UK and Ireland. Writing on the wall ==> UK and other European countries are hunting for attractive opportunities in emerging markets, and India and China are not far from being the favored destination to attract a growing share of the dry powder waiting to be invested.

The case for India (and possibly China)

Stock markets in China have seen a 100% appreciation in 2009, while Indian stocks were close behind at 83%, thus proving the growth potential of these emerging juggernauts that almost single-handedly halted the downward spiral of the global investor sentiment with their resilient GDP growth. With a growing share of LP money now moving out of their domestic investment markets, diversification of portfolios to Asia is becoming increasingly important to GPs. What is holding back the capital from being funneled entirely to India and China? As one of the investors at a forum I recently attended in Geneva put it – Asian markets feature in the first quartile for economic growth and demographic profile, but in the fourth quartile for taxation, and corporate governance. There was also a word of caution from seasoned investment veterans not to forget the mantra that ‘you are investing in companies, not countries’ and asset allocators should keep that in mind.

However, the euphoria of emerging markets has returned to continue unabated, atleast in the Indian venture financing as seen here.

VC investments in India in 2009 totalled $460 million (across 87 deals) as against the $836 million (across 153 deals) during 2008. The $20 million investment in FINO led by HSBC PE and Intel Capital was the largest deal in Q4’09, a technology services provider for microfinance companies. IT & ITES investments remains the largest sector in volume of deals at about 40%, followed by Banking and Financial Services, Energy, Healthcare, other services, engineering and construction. India is also sitting on a potentially explosive growth sector – Infrastructure.

Kamal Nath, Minister for Roads and Transport says  “If the last decade was the decade of IT in India, the new decade will be the decade of infrastructure. India has “embarked on the biggest infrastructure” project which would need $500 billion in investment.

FE Clean Energy’s Rs. 90 crore investment in hydro power firm Soham Renewable Energy India and Fidelity-led $15 million follow on raised by retail software firm Manthan Systems and the Sequoia Capital-led $13 million follow-on investments in mobile VAS firm IMImobile were the other significant VC deals according to TSJ Media reports.

According to a study by Venture Intelligence – IndiaPRwire, sectors like Financial Services (microfinance), Healthcare and Education were flagship sectors that attracted VC attention in 2009.

Any apprehensions on ease of exit that hitherto made VCs cautious are now being laid to rest by the recent exits such as in education loans firm Credila Financial Services whereby Mortgage lender HDFC acquired Merrill Lynch’s 41% stake for $2.2 million

According to Global Trends in Venture Capital 2009, David Chao, co-founder and general partner of DCM, avers “The lines between whether a company is American, Asian or European are blurring because by necessity many start-ups today have multiple offices. Entrepreneurs can start companies anywhere they want in the world and pick locations where conditions are favorable and talent pools are available at reasonable prices.” 43 percent of survey respondents expect to increase their investments in India over the next three years.

Some encouraging discussions on Indian VC – startup landscape can be seen at venturewoods.

Arifa Khan is the Founder and Managing Director of Genius Incubator

In my characteristic ebullience, I had mentioned to Sharon that I was very resourceful, and she could ask me for help if UKIBC ever needed my Indian contacts. And the sessions promised to cover Macroeconomic indicators, Risks, Operations, HR Policy & Regulations, Taxation, Accountancy practices and Legal framework. Given my imminent plans to host an International Summit in Geneva for global investors about India as a favored investment destination (in the tradition of hosting summits to discuss issues of global importance at the world headquarters of United Nations), my curiosity was piqued about what UKIBC had to offer me in terms of ideas for Geneva! For those who are keen to understand the implications of doing business in India, the presentations are posted here:

India in a challenging regulatory and tax environment – PwC

UKIBC India Insight series London 2010

What really caught my ear though was the story of a fledgling creative entrepreneur who had flown from Manchester to Mumbai to set up shop – David Walter of Photolink Creative Group.

‘Tell me a story!” – every child

David grabbed the attention of the child in me when he started telling the story animatedly about flying to Mumbai one day with just a brief from Argos (I mean the creative brief) to do a home catalog for the  Indian market, and NO plan whatsoever. He had already imbibed the Indian ‘jugaad’ spirit when he convinced himself he would just ‘figure it out’ as he went along. His first resource came in the form of our prodigious Mahesh Bhatt, who was having dinner in London with David’s wife at the time David was on his Indian adventure. Then he talks about how things fell in place so elegantly from hiring his first photographer to finding technicians on the sets one morning, at very short notice, supposedly to erect 12 bollywood studios in 48 hours – and they deliver on their promise!

But, as we all know – India is not for the faint-hearted! Just to compensate for the colourful, spontaneous and fun-filled first days of David, there unfolds the saga of a foreigner embrolied in Indian Law & Disorder situation.

Too used to the predictability and safety of investments in UK, and encouraged by his burgeoning India business with briefs from NCPA, and Westside, David decided to lease space for his premises at a Mumbai mall. As soon as he had begun his interior work,  he began being haunted by police and the community conscience keepers about how he could not,  till they were silenced by bribes. Then the work began in earnest. Amidst much chaos one of his managers falls down a pole one day, warranting a visit by a ‘holyman’. By this point I was convulsing with laughter at the absurdity of it all. Did all this happen, just because David was a foreigner? I am sure, it did. In David’s words he was just plain unlucky to have chosen to be the first entrant into that unoccupied new mall, which got trapped in legal quagmire, thereby trapping David’s GBP350000 in the mall. The alleged owners of the mall had an injunction against them that prevent them from taking any decisions on the property. But, David hasn’t lost heart, nor his hopes on India. David is going strong, and is still in love – with India that is!

Then I saw a few really interesting videos by Advaia Diversity Solutions.

Setting: British businessman goes to India to meet his potential business partner, an Indian SME entrepreneur

I was certainly amused as I could perfectly relate to the points being driven home by the videos, even resorting to mild exaggeration at times, as actors enacted the conflicting cultural behavior and attitudes – for example of Indian stretchable time, or of importance that Indians place on building a relationship first before coming to the business, which might seem to be inefficient to a foreigner at the outset, but nevertheless very effective.

I came across some slides by my friend Mohan, an IIT Madras alum and ex Chief Scientist India of IBM, which I attach here in the hope that we can all foster, facilitate and incentivise innovation all around us.

Can India be an Innovation Superpower Mohan UCSC Lecture Series 3-2010

On my part, I am about to organise an event for entrepreneurs at The London Business School on 5th May – Venture Lab on Getting Investment Ready whereby 4 Venture Capitalists will advice early stage companies on how to create value and unlock hidden potential from their businesses. You can register for the event here.

Venture Lab at LBS presented by Genius Incubator

Arifa Khan is the Founder and Managing Director of Genius Incubator.

Genius Incubator, Unleashing the genius in you…

There finally, someone I respond to, on stage – Leander Paes!

I had the pleasure once of cheering Leander and Mahesh on from a private viewing chamber at the courts as a dashing 20 something in Kolkata in 1998/99. The then girl-friend of Leander was sitting next to me. Leander on strike! The poor opponent was an Asian, no less ferocious. But, the aggression and the indefatigable spirit of Leander was unmistakable. I remember asking myself where did that hunger come from? An extra ordinarily talented family? An inexhaustible reservoir of testosterone? His eyes exuded that steely drive to conquer everything that stood in its way, which could intimidate a lesser opponent. Anyway, despite the WINNER written all over Leander’s frame and limb, I had found myself favoring Mahesh! Was it his height or his single status, I can’t say!

Cut to circa Dec 2009 – Leander gracing the dais of Enterprising India, TIE entrepreneurship Summit, this time without Mahesh, facing a 2500 strong audience passionate about entrepreneurship,  his mirth giving away the pleasure of all the attention, looking around to catch a glimpse of admiration, a glimpse of infatuation, flashing a trillion watt infectious smile at cameras that were going flash flash, and stopping just a moment to hold the gaze. And eye contact! No other business leader had commanded such attention on the same stage at previous sessions. Such is the power of celebrity! Not to mention the raw youthfulness and the quantum of energy this celeb was! Hold your breath, this man who seemed to have lived all his life for the mere thrill of winning, had a bombshell to explode – his hitherto non-existent or well-masked humility, perhaps drawn out his art-of-living wife Rhea? Here is his fascinating tale of charting his own destiny.

“When I play for me I am OK. When I play for you, there is some magic that comes out!” - Leander Paes, Olympic medal winner in Tennis

“Drive, patriotism and passion to succeed for your country” are his ingredients for success. He believes  India needs to support young athletes with word class training facilities, dedicated coaching camps and a sports eco- system so “athletes can focus on their next 10 push-ups, sit-ups, millions of forehands, backhands, without having to worry about where the money is coming from to pay the coach”.

Watch the video here:

Leander championing The Olympic Gold Quest at Enterprising India 2009

China invested 3 crores on each Olympic athlete that went on to participate in the Olympics, he observed, politely asking the question what was India investing in its Olympic hopefuls.

Instead of paying mere lip service to inadequate infrastructure, in the empowered spirit and confident stride of young India,  Leander chose to act instead, by joining the Board of Directors of The Olympic Gold Quest, a brainchild of cue sports great Geet Sethi and Prakash Padukone, badminton legend and father of the young bollywood heartthrob  Deepika Padukone. The Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ) supports Indian athletes with a proven track record and potential to win a  gold by picking the best individuals and  providing them dedicated top-class training and coaching.

“I am by no means saying that I am going to give up my tennis, I am here to win you a few more medals”. Balance this chutzpah with the humility of this ensuing disclosure. Paes had chosen this moment of his glory to pay tribute to an unknown family, that had supported his sports career. In a tearful tribute to their generosity and in a gracefully emotional expression of his gratitude, Leander asked each of his benefactors from the Durlabhji family to stand up and then acknowledged how much their financial support had meant to this young hungry promising athlete from Kolkata in his formative years. That moment, Leander had won my heart and made me proud! To have ever aspired to be an athlete.  I am sure he won countless legions of admirers that day.  A little kindness goes a long way, even to a world class Olympian athlete. What if your kindness could influence another Leander Paes?

OGQ supports athletes like Sania Nehwal, MC Mary Kom, and select runners from P.T Usha School of athletics. The COO of OGQ then presented a humbling vision plan, which so touched the hearts of the audience that it inspired a modest entrepreneur to walk upto Leander on stage  spontaneously and present him a cheque for an undisclosed sum followed by my hero Kanwal Rekhi, the visionary Founder of TIE and now a VC, with a Rs17.5 lakh cheque, the estimated cost of sponsoring one Olympic hopeful for an year.

Read more about  Olympic Gold Quest here and support if you are lucky enough to be able to support this cause.

Arifa Khan is the Founder and Managing Director of Genius Incubator Limited and a proud fan of able sports persons who do their countries proud, such as  Leander Paes.