~ Kenkre drew lessons learned from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Infosys chairman NR Narayan Murthy to stress quality, discipline and marketing in entrepreneurship.
Reputation matters more than quick, short-term gains in business, according to renowned chartered accountant Santosh Kenkre. Kenkre was speaking at Clube Tennis de Gaspar Dias as part of a lecture series organised to celebrate the club’s centenary celebrations. The chartered accountant drew on his years of professional experience and his interactions with luminaries such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Infosys chairman NR Narayan Murthy, among others, to share lessons on entrepreneurial success.
“In the short term, gimmicks may work. In the long run, it is quality that sells. Reputation is what keeps you in the game. Look at Tata (the Tata Group). If Tata does something, we buy it blindly,” Kenkre said, reinforcing the importance of reputation and trust in the entrepreneurial domain.
Kenkre, a former chairman of the biggest cooperative bank in Goa, the Goa State Co-operative Bank and the ex-head of the Goa Economic Development Corporation, said that, while reputation and discipline are important, marketing too is critical to the success of a business.
“In particular in Goa, we are almost apologetic if not timid in advertising or marketing. Only if your products sell, will you get the money. To sustain a business, as a result of competition, you have to advertise or do marketing,” he said.
He spoke too of the lessons he had picked up from the political sphere, crediting leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi for their sense of discipline and time management. “I learnt five things from Mr Modi in five minutes — to be open-minded, time management, building relationships such as the one he had with (former Defence Minister, the late Manohar Parrikar) Mr Parrikar, public relations and delegation,” Kenkre said, recalling his 2013 meeting with Modi, then the Chief Minister of Gujarat.
The chartered accountant also recalled his exchanges with industry leaders to underline the point during his lecture. Infosys founder Narayan Murthy, he said, once told him growth was never planned as an ambition but came from steady increments in quality. “First and foremost, what sets a business apart is the quality. So basically, you’ve got to have good quality and give it a good price. That’s the ultimate formula,” Kenkre said, paraphrasing the tech guru’s mantra.
Kenkre also stressed that systems and processes form the backbone of successful enterprises, citing the efficiency of household management as an everyday model for standard operating procedures. “The best SOPs are in our homes. The multitasking and systems run by women in our households are unmatched. Businesses have much to learn from that discipline,” he said.
