ENTREPRENEUR SPECIAL ......`You don't control success' 

`You don't control success'



ENAM Group's Vallabh Bhansali has managed quite a few corporate challenges. He shares some of his principles such as pursuing excellence, and the importance of being there for the client at difficult times

In the world of finance, Vallabh Bhansali i s a powerhouse. He has built ENAM Group, considered an institution and one which has played a crucial role in some of India's major IPOs. Bhansali's idea of an institution, however, goes beyond its stated meaning.

“ Sometimes you can live an individual life which is also a kind of institution,“ he said at a seminar of financial consultants and wealth managers in Mumbai recently. “You do see people who have lived fabulous lives as individuals, so I don't make to o much of a n orga n i s at ion a l institution only.“

These were Bhansali's thoughts on various aspects of business and relationships.

On success

“Never forget that you don't control success. What indeed there is, is a formula for excellence. That's how I lead my life,“ said Bhansali. “If you bring it to work or thinking like that for the next level, the chance that you wi l l become somebody in li fe is disproportionately high. One of my gurus, Prof Rooshikumar Pandya, used to say that I don't have a sixth sense, I only use my five senses very well.“

On accepting change

There are some rules of engagement that never change, feels Bhansali.“Early in my journey, two things happened -I decided to stop what I was not liking,“ he said. “I was practising as an accountant and I realised that I may have been academically bri l liant, but my heart was not in it. I just walked out of my practice not knowing what I was going to do next.So, you have to be very passionate about what you do. Second thing is renewal. You must renew yourself to remain young.“

Standing firm in troubled times

A nother advice Bhansali shared was to think o f t h e c l i e nt s from their point of view.

The client is looking for an honest, consistent and knowledgeable man and someone who will always keep him out of trouble. And if in trouble, that person will stand by you. That's what we stood for all throughout, said Bhansali.

“If you are too selfish and think of your commission, sales, etc, it's no good,“ he said. “Are you the person you would like to deal with?“ Illustrating this, Bhanshali recalled the IPO of Air Deccan, India's first low-cost airline. “As I went deeper into the company, I realised many things were not solid. There were five bankers Capt Gopinath appointed because Air Deccan was a big brand. When they realised that things were not as solid as they appeared, three scooted. The other two couldn't because they had invested in the com pany. But I said, `Captain, will hold your hand. I am not going to leave you Had I also left, the air line would have stopped in the next seven days.“

The hope that an IPO would be floated kept the company from going red. “The day we opened the IPO, the market tanked 800 points,“ Bhansali recalled. “The 2004 UPA elections had happened. We were wondering what to do, do we pull the IPO? To keep it open, we changed the price band. Fortunately, SEBI had just brought in rules that you could change the prices and con tinue. We got the IPO subscribed some how by begging and borrowing.“

The IPO traded well and all the initial in vestors were able to exit, with the company merging with Kingfisher Airlines later on.

Be there during bad times

According to Bhansali, if you distribute uniform time to everybody, you can't have relationships. But if you give time to people when they need it most, they will still value the relationship. “You can then afford to not be present with them on other occasions,“ he said. “If I have started something, I have to do my best not to scoot from responsibility.“

Bhansali recalled how the Ruias acknowledged his contribution after the acquisition of Essar Oil by Russia's Rosneft-led group for around `85,000 crore. “They said, `Vallabh, we just signed the deal. We can't forget that we have Essar Oil because of you'. You can imagine my happiness that the day they do a `85,000 crore deal and are surrounded by BRICS leaders, they remembered me,“ he said.Bhansali revealed that in 1995, the Essar Oil IPO received a hot reception that none of the other issues had seen. “The issue closed and all kinds of difficulties cropped up in terms of approval in the exchange,“ he said. “For about roughly two months when all kinds of difficulties [were being battled], including court cases being threatened, company law being used, I was sitting in the Essar office every day. Although it was a small task, I didn't leave it to anybody.“

Advice to entrepreneurs

Instead of following a successful person, Bhansali felt it was better to “walk your own journey“. “Even Narayana Murthy couldn't become another Narayana Murthy again,“ he said.

While entrepreneurs may have a lot of ideas, having an ideal dream is no good. “You need to have some kind of plan and take action on it. In every aspect of my life, I have followed these steps -have a large ambition, be inspired by something much bigger than your im mediate self, create a conceptual plan, execute and review it,“ he said .

rashmi menon



ETNOV16,16