India votes to select the First Generation Entrepreneur of the year 2014 at ILC Power Brand 2014 at the fifth annual India Leadership Conclave & Indian Affairs Business Leadership Awards 2014
India Leadership Conclave & Indian Affairs Business Leadership Awards is going to select the winner amongst the five finalists arrived out of extensive research on who should be the First Generation Entrepreneur of the Year 2014 at the , the fifth annual India Leadership Conclave & Indian Affairs Business Leadership Awards 2014 Organized by illustrious Network 7 Media Group’s ( www.network7mediagroup.in ) Indian Affairs ( www.indianaffairs.tv ), Asia’s leading media in mainstream journalism & entering in its fifth year, India Leadership Conclave is rated & perceived by the Industry Leaders & trade analysts as the most definitive, credible, independent awards led by top researchers & eminent jury panel , Indian Affairs Business Leadership Awards 2014 ( www.ilc2014.in ) are a set of 30 categories that attempt to recognize India’s shining stars & super achievers by the individuals & Companies exhibiting top results under tough conditions. 
INDIA has a fifth of the world’s young people. It is safe to assume that they are as obsessed with smartphones, sex and their job prospects as their peers everywhere else. But for a young country India’s politics are depressingly feudal with hereditary dynasties, geriatric king-makers, religion and caste all playing a big role. A national election due by May could see a clash between the old and the new India. To assess this The Economist has teamed up with a leading mobile phone messaging platform, called Nimbuzz, to quiz young Indians and find out what they think. We plan to repeat this exercise each month until the election. The first round of questioning was conducted in January. The one line conclusion? Young Indians are fed up and desperate for change.
This matters. About 120m people could soon lose their ballot-box virginity. They are aged 18-22, so are of voting age today but too young to have participated in the last election in 2009. This cohort represents 16% of the electorate. The big battleground states are even younger than average. In Uttar Pradesh 20% of the electorate is aged 18-22. Until now young people have voted much like their parents. But the spread of mobile phones, the internet, satellite TV and urbanisation may mean that traditions are fraying. Young people are also being hurt by a dismal economy. Growth is at a 10-year low and not enough jobs are being created to absorb new entrants into the work force. For more on how India’s demographic dividend could turn into a disaster,
The results:
Young Indians do still believe in democracy—81% of respondents said they would cast a vote in the upcoming election. If true, turnout would be higher than in 2009 when 54% of young Indians voted, a bit less than the figure for the electorate overall. But they are fed up with the way politics works (see panel 1 above). A huge majority say that politicians’ children should not enter politics. That is a rebuke to the Gandhi family that has dominated politics since independence and to India’s other hereditary political clans. Most young people think that caste and religion should not play a role in who runs the country.
Attitudes have moved on in foreign affairs, too. While Pakistan has traditionally been India’s number one enemy, more young people think China is a bigger threat (see panel 2 above).
Young folk’s frustration with the political establishment is overwhelming. Some 83% want a change of government from the ruling Congress-led coalition. That confirms the result of state elections in December which saw Congress get a hiding. It is far less clear who young Indians might support. India’s election rules and Nimbuzz’s rules prevent us from asking directly about party affiliation. So we posed two questions to elicit some clues. First we asked whether India needed “strong leadership”—this could be read as support for Narendra Modi, the strong-man candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which is the main opposition party and is ahead in the polls. 77% of young Indians said yes. But when we quizzed them about their attitudes towards big political parties most felt they were part of the problem (see panel 3 above). This seems to be good news for insurgent parties, and in particular the anti-corruption AAP. It stunned India’s political establishment by winning control of Delhi in the state elections in December.
The attitudes of young Indians are in some ways inspiring. They want a shift to a cleaner more meritocratic kind of politics. But there is a dystopian undercurrent to their views. Contrary to the old cliché of India being gentle and tolerant, 74% think the country is becoming more violent (see panel 4 above). Nimbuzz says its traffic surged after an appalling rape case in Delhi in 2012 that caught the world’s attention. Young people worry about corruption. Few feel very confident of getting good jobs. And, for all those who think the future belongs to emerging economies and that India’s rise is pre-ordained, 57% of young Indians say they would emigrate to America if given the chance.
First Generation Entrepreneur of the year
Nominees
1. Mr. Manav Garg, CEO & Founder, Eka software. ( Code 21)
2. Mr. Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder and Executive Vice Chairman, Info Edge. ( Code 22)
3. Mr. Suresh Sambandam, CEO & Founder, OrangeScape. ( Code 23)
4. Govind Rammurthy CEO & Founder, eScan (MicroWorld Software Services Pvt. Ltd). ( Code 24)
5. Dr Rajaram Samant, MD, Akumentis Healthcare Ltd. ( Code 25)
Mr. Manav Garg, CEO & Founder, Eka software. ( Code 21)
Manav Garg is the CEO and Founder of Eka Software Solutions. Besides the overall responsibility of managing Eka, Manav oversees the areas of business strategy and corporate finance. Manav founded Eka after a brief stint as a trader with a large global commodity trading house. It was during his trading days that he saw the deficiencies in traditional trading and risk management software. Realizing the market opportunity, and combining this with his passion for technology, Manav setup Eka with venture capital funding. The first few years of organizational building at Eka were an invaluable experience, helping him gain deep and unique insights into all aspects of the business, and the needs of customers across the globe. Today, with Eka having shown significant growth in revenues, profitability, customer base and employees, Manav provides leadership and overall direction in such strategic areas as talent management, product direction and growth strategy. He constantly strives to achieve ever higher levels of organizational excellence and customer satisfaction by encouraging responsibility and accountability at all levels.Born in 1974, Manav graduated as an engineer from REC (Regional Engineering College) Jalandhar, and followed this by an MBA from IIFT (Indian Institute of Foreign Trade), Delhi. He was recently awarded the Star Entrepreneur Award for 2008-09 at the 2nd Indira International India Innovation Summit.
2. Mr. Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder and Executive Vice Chairman, Info Edge. ( Code 22)
Sanjeev Bikhchandani, an Indian national, is our Founder and Executive Vice-Chairman. Mr. Bikhchandani obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from St. Stephen College, Delhi University in 1984 and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management (“PGDM”) from IIM, Ahmedabad in 1989. His work experience includes an advertising position at Lintas India Limited, a marketing position at HMM Limited (now known as Glaxo SmithKline), and a senior management position at CMYK Printech Private Limited (owner of The Pioneer newspaper). Sanjeev, along with his partner Hitesh Oberoi, won the “Ernst and Young – Entrepreneur of the Year” award in 2008 for Business Transformation. He also won the Dataquest Pathbreaker Award & the Teacher’s Achievement Award for Business in 2008. Sanjeev is a frequent speaker on entrepreneurship at conferences and at business schools.
Mr. Suresh Sambandam, CEO & Founder, OrangeScape. ( Code 23)
After an initial entrepreneurial stint for three years at the age of 19, Suresh Sambandam went on to work at Hewlett-Packard. Later, Suresh joined Selectica and rose to senior position, as Director of e-Insurance product division in a short-span. The e-Insurance division and its products were later acquired by Accenture. Suresh is a technocrat specializing in product engineering with expertise in software architecture for complex enterprise applications, inference engines, configuration engines, rule-based computing and enterprise middleware. He has applied for multiple patents. Suresh is passionate about entrepreneurship, technology startups and spends a significant amount of personal time in the start-up ecosystem in Chennai. Suresh is a member of the National Council for Emerging Companies Forum and also a core committee member of Product Forum at NASSCOM. He also does mentoring for budding entrepreneurs at IIT Bombay, E-Cell. Suresh is a regular speaker at various industry forums & academic institutions.
Suresh is the Founder & CEO of OrangeScape. OrangeScape is a platform (PaaS – Platform as a Service) to develop process oriented business applications that can be deployed “On Cloud” and “On Premise”. OrangeScape supports platforms like Google App Engine and Microsoft Azure as cloud deployment option and Microsoft .Net and J2EE as on-premise deployment options. OrangeScape has 50+ customers including global brands like Unilever, Citibank, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Fullterton, etc. OrangeScape in the only Indian company has been featured in the PaaS research reports of Forrester and Gartner. OrangeScape has been featured as ‘India’s Rising Tech Stars’ by Forbes(US) magazine. OrangeScape was showcased as one of the 3 emerging product companies in India by Nasscom and was also awarded ‘Top IT Innovations’ for 2 consecutive years.
Mr.Govind Rammurthy CEO & Founder, eScan (MicroWorld Software Services Pvt. Ltd)
Mr. Govind Rammurthy has been involved in the IT industry for more than 18 years. He has been involved in developing products for the Information Security Industry for more than 17 years and is a recognized software expert in the industry circles. He is the face of new emerging India. Prior to MicroWorld, he had a brief stint at TELCO, India. Rammurthy has many achievements and honours to his name. He holds his bachelor’s degree in engineering with specialization in Computer Science.
5. Dr Rajaram Samant, MD, Akumentis Healthcare Ltd. ( Code 25)
Dr. Rajaram Samant is the CEO & Chief Mentor of Akumentis Healthcare Ltd. A team leader with nearly two decades of experience in handling pharmaceutical firms. Dr Rajaram has top management CEO with expertise in handling any business situation (refer specialties) & 2.Very high energy & passion- with ability to energize teams to realize their true potential. Dr Rajaram is a .Coach & Mentor, .Startegists, inspiration leader. He has Specialties:Hands on CEO with expertise in handling any of the given business situations like 1.Start Up Businesses, 2.Turnaround Business, 3.Realignments &4.Sustaining Success & Expertise in Facilitating Innovation & Entrepreneurship.. He has the distinction of making 100 Crore company in its first year of operation. Dr Rajaram is Instrumental in setting up Akumentis Healthcare Ltd as a leading pharma company. Within 3rd year of launch, Akumentis entered the top 50 Rank in Indian Pharmaceutical Industry & in Top 20 Rank in special therapeutic areas of focus
