HYDERABAD: Young, first-time entrepreneurs from middle-class families will create an impactful start-up ecosystem in India, which will be second only to the Silicon Valley, within 10 to 15 years, believes Raju Reddy, the founder and CEO of Sierra Atlantic. Mr Reddy is supporting the Kakatiya Sandbox initiative to empower the districts of Nizamabad, Kar-imnagar, Medak, Sircilla, Siddipet, Kamareddy, Peddapally, Jagtial and Sangareddy.
An investor and advisor to several start-ups, Mr Reddy was a pioneer in outsourcing work to India about two decades ago. Speaking to this newspaper, he said, “India did not have any market opportunity when I started Sierra Atlantic. Today, it is a very different world, with a strong ecosystem and a $2.5 dollar economy. India is in a unique position of being able to combine the best of both China and Israel.”
The Kakatiya Sandbox is a social entrepreneurship cell which aims to improve income levels in rural Telangana.
Mr Reddy, who has been involved with the Indian start-up ecosystem for years, says that a lot of people of Indian origin who are working in Silicon Valley and elsewhere in the world want to connect with entrepreneurs in the country.
Highlighting the role that NRIs can play in the Indian ecosystem as mentors and venture capitalists, Mr Reddy says, “A mentor needs to have empathy towards an entrepreneur.”
Mr Reddy has always believed in the importance of a good work culture. For start-ups having trouble in retaining talent, Mr Reddy’s advice is, “The onus of retaining talent rests on the leader, and not on the employees. The leadership needs to create a compelling vision, stay at it, and be transparent.”
Entrepreneurs come up with new ideas every day, but Mr Reddy believes that it is important to have some industry experience before jumping into the business. He himself worked at Intel for a decade before starting his own company.
“Entrepreneurship is an attempt to address an unmet need; entrepreneurs are problem-solvers. When you don’t have any experience, you rarely have insights into the problem. Experience is very relevant to an entrepreneur. Sometimes, good product managers make the best entrepreneurs,” he says.
