Baring's Karan (L) and Carlyle's Parasuraman: Handholding of investee companies satisfies their entrepreneurial urges

Even till a couple of years ago, if you retired as a CEO, were suffering from never-made-it-to-the-corner-room blues or plainly itching to do 'something else' with your still-far-from-over working life, all you could do was twiddle your thumbs or gnash your teeth and stay put where your were. And if you did call it quits, the best one could manage was to try to be 'productively engaged' in being either an independent director on the board of a nondescript company or a stand-alone management consultant, neither of which was very rewarding, financially or otherwise.

Well, all that is changing fast with the private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) industry booming in the country. Today, senior managers across industries have the option of becoming a kind of consultant, entrepreneur and investment banker, all rolled into one, with any of the dozen or so PE and VC firms in the country.

India is mirroring what has already been happening in developed markets, such as the US, for some time now. Jack Welch, the legendary CEO of General Electric, is now a special partner at PE firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. And Louis Gerstner, current chairman of private equity major Carlyle Group, was the Chairman & CEO of IBM. "It's a perfect marriage with private equity firms needing talent and professionals getting variety (in career)," says Rahul Bhasin, Senior Partner, Baring Private Equity. And if Jack can do it there, so can India Inc's Vivek Paul, ex-President and CEO of Wipro Technologies, who joined Texas Pacific Group, and Akhil Gupta, former CEO Corporate Development, Reliance Industries, who is now with Blackstone India as Senior MD and Chairman. "In a VC environment, a professional's entrepreneurial instincts come to the fore and, more often than not, even the money is better," says Arun Natarajan, founder and CEO of Venture Intelligence India, a company that tracks VC investments in India. With close to a fourth of the profit pie earmarked for partners, it is little wonder that hordes of senior managers are finding the PE and VC lure hard to resist. And what's best, PE and VC stints make sense for most senior managers and marquee names in the corporate world.

A Professional And An Entrepreneur

"You get to put your money where your mouth is, literally," says Karthik Ranganathan, an investment consultant who left management consultancy KPMG to join Baring Private Equity in October 2004. He is right, for PE is the closest a professional can get at being an entrepreneur, without starting his own company. "It is about becoming a mentor, as well as the chairman, by focussing on strategic thinking," explains Vishal Nevatia, CEO of GW Capital, a PE firm.

"One of the most important things for me in joining this industry was the opportunity to interact with entrepreneurs," says Ajeet Singh Karan, former President & CEO of Karamchand Appliances (better known for its mosquito repellent brand, All Out, bought over by sc Johnson). The 39-year-old got his first taste of entrepreneurship when he joined Hindustan Lever Limited's (HLL) animal feeds division in Nagpur way back in the 90's. "It was run like a profit centre and it changed my thinking completely," says Karan. After Karamchand, Karan found joining Baring Private Equity in September 2005 a natural extension of his unique blend of professional-entrepreneurial career. "I already know how to get into the mind of the Indian entrepreneur. How to truly value a company is something I will learn here," says Karan.

While Karan was chasing his entrepreneurial instincts, Mahesh Parasuraman looked at a PE career for very different reasons. While working at Ernst & Young in Bangalore, Parasuraman was constantly hopping to structure one deal after another, with hardly any time to delve deep into any one company. "Being a PE investor, you have to travel the whole life cycle with patience to help your portfolio grow," says Parasuraman, who joined as Senior Associate at Carlyle Asia Venture Partners in September 2004. With stakes linked to exits, which often take four to six years, attrition levels at most PE and VC firms are very low. Teams, once formed, tend to stay together.

Not Just For Beancounters

Thought a PE or VC career is only for the financial types? Think again. Take the case of Anand Sridharan, 31, an associate at VC firm Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP). A chip designer at Intel in Santa Clara, us, Sridharan worked with McKinsey in Mumbai before joining BVP in April 2005. "I like to see direct results of my hard work in black or white," says Sridharan. With BVP focussed on being a technology-oriented VC, Sridharan leverages his Silicon Valley experience in making financial decisions. With PE and VC firms hunting for companies with huge growth potential, just about every skill set-from banking, retail, media, pharmaceutical, transportation to it -is in demand.

ICICI's Variyar (L) and BVP's Sridharan: Diversity at workplace and big bonuses are the industry's added attractions

For finance professionals like Sudhir Variyar, Director Investments, ICICI Ventures, even though joining a PE is an obvious choice, what carries them through is the sheer variety in the PE and VC workplaces. With colleagues such as Bala Deshpande, who comes from the retail industry, and Alluri Srinivasan, from the pharmaceutical industry, Variyar finds sticking to one place in PE much easier than his earlier stints in investment banking, lending, credit rating and analysis. "I thoroughly enjoy conversations with promoters, for you are looked at as a partner," says Variyar.

But even PE jobs have their share of frustrations. It is easy to bet on a wrong horse, investments may not prove profitable for a variety of reasons, including a lack of exits. "You have to have a stomach for the ups and downs," says Sandeep Singhal, MD, WestBridge Capital Partners, one of the early movers into the PE domain after stints with HLL and Boston Consulting Group. In other words, a PE or VC job is not for the fainthearted, slacker or escapist.

COUNSELLING
Help, Tarun!

I'm a 30-year old computer engineer from a tier-II engineering college. I have five years of experience in start-ups, mostly in the area of building no-frills computer networks and e-governance. But I see people with no experience but better qualifications earning more. What courses can I pursue to upgrade my skills? And how do I zero in on better start-ups, such as, say, ones started by IITians?

If you do not want to be caught in a rut doing the same monotonous job for the rest of your life, then you should go in for a master's degree, better still if you can do it from one of the IITs. The other option is to do an MBA or an ms course, either in India or abroad. Either way, you will be well qualified to opt for jobs you like and that have a future. If you do not upgrade your skills, it is most likely that you will be stuck in a dead-end job, like the ones you have been doing for the past five years. As for zeroing in on better start-ups, you have to keep yourself well informed. So, browse the net, read newspapers (and this magazine, of course) and glean information from friends working in a similar field.

I am a B.Com (Pass) second-year student and am preparing for CA (PE-II) in November 2006. However, I have heard that the pass percentage of CA is very low. If I fail to clear the second semester in two attempts, that is by November 2007, what other options are there for me to acquire a good qualification, besides MCom, ICWA and MFC, to get a good job? Can I make a career as a financial analyst after doing a PG diploma in financial planning or in global strategic management?

It is true that ca is a tough nut to crack and the percentage of students who make it every year is low. But at the same time, that does not mean that it is not doable. There are many successful persons in this field for you to emulate. If you are hardworking and a good student, you have nothing to worry about. But it is always pragmatic to have a backup plan. As you are also interested in becoming a financial analyst, after graduating you could do an MBA from a premier institute like one of the IIMs and top it up with a CFA programme. That way you will be well armed to pursue a career of your liking.

I am a 28-year-old marketing manager working for the past five years in a leading multinational FMCG company. The job, so far, has been satisfactory. Recently, however, the company suffered some losses because of a couple errors on my part. Should I quit? What are the opportunities in the sector, especially in the rural markets?

All of us, including great leaders, make mistakes. If the company has not asked you to leave, then you should apologise, get on with your work and make sure that your achievements overshadow your failures and the company recoups the losses incurred because of your errors. However, if you think that this episode might be held against you in the future, then it is time to look for another job. Having said that, you should not quit just because you are feeling guilty or foolish. But if you are intent on quitting, then you could explore the consumer products sector, both durables and non-durables, especially brands with a heavy rural marketing focus. Other rural marketing opportunities include the automotive and farm equipment sectors.

I am a 24-year-old engineering student. My father is also an engineer and it was on his insistence that I decided to pursue engineering though I was not interested in it. I've always wanted a career in the management field. I'm thinking of quitting the engineering course. What would you advise? Should I quit and apply for an MBA course, or should I get some work experience first?

First, you cannot pursue an MBA before you have completed your graduation. Second, if you are 24, then you must be about to complete your engineering degree. So why let all the hard work go to waste now? Make the best of the situation. After completing your engineering, apply for an MBA from a good institute. An engineering degree coupled with an MBA will be a great asset when you join the job market. So stop ruing your situation as you cannot anyway just quit midway and apply for an MBA course. I would recommend quitting the engineering course only if you have two more years to go before you complete your degree. In that case, you have the option of pursuing a bachelor's degree in some other subject.

Answers to your career concerns are contributed by Tarun Sheth (Senior Consultant) and Shilpa Sheth (Managing Partner, US practice) of HR firm, Shilputsi Consultants. Write to Help,Tarun! c/o Business Today, Videocon Tower, Fifth Floor, E-1, Jhandewalan Extn., New Delhi-110055..

Corporate Jobs For Social Grads
Social science graduates are in great demand.

A self-help women's group: There are jobs aplenty

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) saw some unlikely recruiters this year, quite apart from the bevy of non-governmental organisations that usually throng its Mumbai-based campus. The need to keep their corporate social responsibility (CSR) endeavours in fine fettle made some of the marquee corporate names like Infosys, ICICI Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs, L&T, Sundram Fasteners and Tata Steel pick up TISS graduates, starting at Rs 15,000 per month, and, in some cases, going as high as Rs 50,000 per month.

It's the same happy story across most other social sector institutes such as Jamia Milia Islamia, Delhi, and Loyola College of Social Sciences, Trivandrum. With most social institutes specialising in women and child welfare, aids awareness, or micro finance, something right up the CSR alley, it's becoming a win-win situation for both students and companies. The trend has become so popular that TISS is even introducing, starting the next academic year, a new module on CSR in its Master's Programme on Social Enterprise. Demand creating its own supply, it would seem.

-Supriya Shrinate

Hyderabad Is Still Cyberabad
Need a new IT or ITES job? Head for Hyderabad.

Hyderabad calling: Giving Bangalore a run for its money

Chandrababu Naidu may no longer be its chief Minister, but Andhra Pradesh's (AP) capital seems to have lost little of its it and ITEs sheen. For what could explain the city-based ITEs company TransDyne it Services' path-breaking attempt to enter the Guinness Book of World Records endeavour with the TransJobathon-05, a 100 hour round-the-clock, non-stop recruitment marathon last week to induct 400 people for medical transcription, anyone from a trained doctor to a high school drop-out?

For those not impressed by TransDyne's 'gimmicks', here are more serious figures. "By the end of this fiscal year, we plan to get at least 50 new (it & ITEs) companies to set up base here (of this, 20 are in the pipeline)," says Ratna Prabha, AP's it and Communications Secretary. Well that's about one new company every week in Hyderabad. The state government is keen to get the 12 million square feet office space trebled in the next three to four years.

With existing players such as HSBC ramping up their Hyderabad operations and new ones such as UBs and Amazon setting up shop in the city, almost 50,000 new jobs are expected to come up for IT & ITEs professionals in the next one year alone. Bangalore, here comes Hyderabad, once again.

-E. Kumar Sharma