CHAPTER I

DEFINITION OF ENTREPRENEUR
Someone who exercises initiative by organizing a venture to take benefit of an opportunity and,
as the decision maker, decides what, how, and how much of a good or service will be produced.
An entrepreneur supplies risk capital as a risk taker, and monitors and controls the business
activities. The entrepreneur is usually a sole proprietor, a partner, or the one who owns
the majority of shares in an incorporated venture.
According to economist Joseph Alois Schumpeter (1883-1950), entrepreneurs are not necessarily
motivated by profit but regard it as a standard for measuring achievement or success.
Schumpeter discovered that they
1. Greatly value self-reliance,
2. Strive for distinction through excellence,
3. Are highly optimistic (otherwise nothing would be undertaken), and
4. Always favor challenges of medium risk(neither too easy, nor ruinous).

DEFINITION OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Entrepreneurship

is

the

process

of

starting

business

or

other

organization.

The entrepreneur develops a business model, acquires the human and other required resources,
and is fully responsible for its success or failure. Entrepreneurship operates within
an entrepreneurship ecosystem.

CHAPTER II
CHARACTERISTICS OF ENTREPRENEUR
Regardless of your definition of success, there are, oddly enough, a great number of common
characteristics that are shared by successful businesspeople. You can place a check beside each
characteristic that you feel that you possess. This way, you can see how you stack up. Even if
you don't have all of these characteristics, don't fret. Most can be learned with practice and by
developing a winning attitude, especially if you set goals and apply yourself, through strategic
planning, to reach those goals in incremental and measurable stages.
The Home Business Musts
Like any activity you pursue, there are certain musts that are required to be successful in a
chosen activity. To legally operate a vehicle on public roadways, one must have a driver's
license; to excel in sports, one must train and practice; to retire comfortably, one must become an
informed investor and actively invest for retirement. If your goal is success in business, then the
formula is no different. There are certain musts that have to be fully developed, implemented and
managed for your business to succeed. There are many business musts, but this article contains I
believe to be some of the more important musts that are required to start, operate and grow a
profitable home business.
1. Do what you enjoy.
What you get out of your business in the form of personal satisfaction, financial gain, stability
and enjoyment will be the sum of what you put into your business. So if you don't enjoy what

you're doing, in all likelihood it's safe to assume that will be reflected in the success of your
business--or subsequent lack of success. In fact, if you don't enjoy what you're doing, chances
are you won't succeed.
2. Take what you do seriously.
You cannot expect to be effective and successful in business unless you truly believe in your
business and in the goods and services that you sell. Far too many home business owners fail to
take their own businesses seriously enough, getting easily sidetracked and not staying motivated
and keeping their noses to the grindstone. They also fall prey to naysayers who don't take them
seriously because they don't work from an office building, office park, storefront, or factory.
Little do these skeptics, who rain on the home business owner's parade, know is that the number
of people working from home, and making very good annual incomes, has grown by leaps and
bounds in recent years.
3. Plan everything.
Planning every aspect of your home business is not only a must, but also builds habits that every
home business owner should develop, implement, and maintain. The act of business planning is
so important because it requires you to analyze each business situation, research and compile
data, and make conclusions based mainly on the facts as revealed through the research. Business
planning also serves a second function, which is having your goals and how you will achieve
them, on paper. You can use the plan that you create both as map to take you from point A to Z
and as a yardstick to measure the success of each individual plan or segment within the plan.
4. Manage money wisely.
3

The lifeblood of any business enterprise is cash flow. You need it to buy inventory, pay for
services, promote and market your business, repair and replace tools and equipment, and pay
yourself so that you can continue to work. Therefore, all home business owners must become
wise money managers to ensure that the cash keeps flowing and the bills get paid. There are two
aspects to wise money management.
1.

The money you receive from clients in exchange for your goods and services you provide
(income)

2.

The money you spend on inventory, supplies, wages and other items required to keep
your business operating. (expenses)
5. Ask for the sale.
A home business entrepreneur must always remember that marketing, advertising, or
promotional activities are completely worthless, regardless of how clever, expensive, or perfectly
targeted they are, unless one simple thing is accomplished--ask for the sale. This is not to say that
being a great salesperson, advertising copywriting whiz or a public relations specialist isn't a
tremendous asset to your business. However, all of these skills will be for naught if you do not
actively ask people to buy what you are selling.
6. Remember it's all about the customer.
Your home business is not about the products or services that you sell. Your home business is not
about the prices that you charge for your goods and services. Your home business is not about
your competition and how to beat them. Your business is all about your customers, or clients,
period. After all, your customers are the people that will ultimately decide if your business goes
4

boom or bust. Everything you do in business must be customer focused, including your policies,
warranties, payment options, operating hours, presentations, advertising and promotional
campaigns and website. In addition, you must know who your customers are inside out and
upside down.
Related: Keeping Your Customers Satisfied -- It's All in the Details
7.

Become

shameless

self-promoter

(without

becoming

obnoxious).
One of the greatest myths about personal or business success is that eventually your business,
personal abilities, products or services will get discovered and be embraced by the masses that
will beat a path to your door to buy what you are selling. But how can this happen if no one
knows who you are, what you sell and why they should be buying?
Self-promotion is one of the most beneficial, yet most underutilized, marketing tools that the
majority of home business owners have at their immediate disposal.
8. Project a positive business image.
You have but a passing moment to make a positive and memorable impression on people with
whom you intend to do business. Home business owners must go out of their way and make a
conscious effort to always project the most professional business image possible. The majority of
home business owners do not have the advantage of elaborate offices or elegant storefronts and
showrooms to wow prospects and impress customers. Instead, they must rely on imagination,

creativity and attention to the smallest detail when creating and maintaining a professional image
for their home business.
9. Get to know your customers.
One of the biggest features and often the most significant competitive edge the home based
entrepreneur has over the larger competitors is the he can offer personalized attention. Call it
high-tech backlash if you will, but customers are sick and tired of hearing that their information
is somewhere in the computer and must be retrieved, or told to push a dozen digits to finally get
to the right department only to end up with voice mail--from which they never receive a return
phone call.
The home business owner can actually answer phone calls, get to know customers, provide
personal attention and win over repeat business by doing so. It's a researched fact that most
business (80 percent) will come from repeat customers rather than new customers. Therefore,
along with trying to draw newcomers, the more you can do to woo your regular customers, the
better off you will be in the long run and personalized attention is very much appreciated and
remembered in the modern high tech world.
Related: Why You Should Never Prejudge a Sales Prospect
10. Level the playing field with technology.
You should avoid getting overly caught up in the high-tech world, but you should also know how
to take advantage of using it. One of the most amazing aspects of the internet is that a one or two
person business operating from a basement can have a superior website to a $50 million

company, and nobody knows the difference. Make sure you're keeping up with the high-tech
world as it suits your needs.. The best technology is that which helps you, not that which
impresses your neighbors.
11. Build a top-notch business team.
No one person can build a successful business alone. It's a task that requires a team that is as
committed as you to the business and its success. Your business team may include family
members, friends, suppliers, business alliances, employees, sub-contractors, industry and
business associations, local government and the community. Of course the most important team
members will be your customers or clients. Any or all may have a say in how your business will
function and a stake in your business future.
Related: Why Teamwork Should Be Your No. 1 Sales Tool
12. Become known as an expert.
When you have a problem that needs to be solved, do you seek just anyone's advice or do you
seek an expert in the field to help solve your particular problem? Obviously, you want the most
accurate information and assistance that you can get. You naturally seek an expert to help solve
your problem. You call a plumber when the hot water tank leaks, a real estate agent when it's
time to sell your home or a dentist when you have a toothache. Therefore, it only stands to reason
that the more you become known for your expertise in your business, the more people will seek
you out to tap into your expertise, creating more selling and referral opportunities. In effect,
becoming known as an expert is another style of prospecting for new business, just in reverse.

Instead of finding new and qualified people to sell to, these people seek you out for your
expertise.
13. Create a competitive advantage.
A home business must have a clearly defined unique selling proposition. This is nothing more
than a fancy way of asking the vital question, "Why will people choose to do business with you
or purchase your product or service instead of doing business with a competitor and buying his
product or service?" In other words, what one aspect or combination of aspects is going to
separate your business from your competition? Will it be better service, a longer warranty, better
selection, longer business hours, more flexible payment options, lowest price, personalized
service, better customer service, better return and exchange policies or a combination of several
of these?
14. Invest in yourself.
Top entrepreneurs buy and read business and marketing books, magazines, reports, journals,
newsletters, websites and industry publications, knowing that these resources will improve their
understanding of business and marketing functions and skills. They join business associations
and clubs, and they network with other skilled business people to learn their secrets of success
and help define their own goals and objectives. Top entrepreneurs attend business and marketing
seminars, workshops and training courses, even if they have already mastered the subject matter
of the event. They do this because they know that education is an ongoing process. There are
usually ways to do things better, in less time, with less effort. In short, top entrepreneurs never

stop investing in the most powerful, effective and best business and marketing tool at their
immediate disposal--themselves.
15. Be accessible.
We're living in a time when we all expect our fast food lunch at the drive-thru window to be
ready in mere minutes, our dry cleaning to be ready for pick-up on the same day, our money to
be available at the cash machine and our pizza delivered in 30 minutes or it's free. You see the
pattern developing--you must make it as easy as you can for people to do business with you,
regardless of the home business you operate.
You must remain cognizant of the fact that few people will work hard, go out of their way, or be
inconvenienced just for the privilege of giving you their hard-earned money. The shoe is always
on the other foot. Making it easy for people to do business with you means that you must be
accessible and knowledgeable about your products and services. You must be able to provide
customers with what they want, when they want it.
16. Build a rock-solid reputation.
A good reputation is unquestionably one of the home business owner's most tangible and
marketable assets. You can't simply buy a good reputation; it's something that you earn by
honoring your promises. If you promise to have the merchandise in the customer's hands by
Wednesday, you have no excuse not to have it there. If you offer to repair something, you need to
make good on your offer. Consistency in what you offer is the other key factor. If you cannot
come through with the same level of service (and products) for clients on a regular basis, they
have no reason to trust you . . . and without trust, you won't have a good reputation.
9

17. Sell benefits.

Pushing product features is for inexperienced or wannabe entrepreneurs. Selling the benefits
associated with owning and using the products and services you carry is what sales professionals
worldwide focus on to create buying excitement and to sell, sell more, and sell more frequently
to their customers. Your advertising, sales presentations, printed marketing materials, product
packaging, website, newsletters, trade show exhibit and signage are vital. Every time and every
medium used to communicate with your target audience must always be selling the benefits
associated with owning your product or using your service.
18. Get involved.
Always go out of your way to get involved in the community that supports your business. You
can do this in many ways, such as pitching in to help local charities or the food bank, becoming
involved in organizing community events, and getting involved in local politics. You can join
associations and clubs that concentrate on programs and policies designed to improve the local
community. It's a fact that people like to do business with people they know, like and respect, and
with people who do things to help them as members of the community.
19. Grab attention.
Small-business owners cannot waste time, money and energy on promotional activities aimed at
building awareness solely through long-term, repeated exposure. If you do, chances are you will
go broke long before this goal is accomplished. Instead, every promotional activity you engage
in, must put money back in your pocket so that you can continue to grab more attention and grow
your business.
10

20. Master the art of negotiations.

The ability to negotiate effectively is unquestionably a skill that every home business owner
must make every effort to master. It's perhaps second in importance only to asking for the sale in
terms of home business musts. In business, negotiation skills are used daily. Always remember
that mastering the art of negotiation means that your skills are so finely tuned that you can
always orchestrate a win-win situation. These win-win arrangements mean that everyone
involved feels they have won, which is really the basis for building long-term and profitable
business relationships.
21. Design Your workspace for success.
Carefully plan and design your home office workspace to ensure maximum personal
performance and productivity and, if necessary, to project professionalism for visiting clients. If
at all possible, resist the temptation to turn a corner of the living room or your bedroom into your
office. Ideally, you'll want a separate room with a door that closes to keep business activities in
and family members out, at least during prime business and revenue generating hours of the day.
A den, spare bedroom, basement or converted garage are all ideal candidates for your new home
office. If this is not possible, you'll have to find a means of converting a room with a partition or
simply find hours to do the bulk of your work when nobody else is home.
22. Get and stay organized.
The key to staying organized is not about which type of file you have or whether you keep a
stack or two of papers on your desk, but it's about managing your business. It's about having
systems in place to do things. Therefore, you wan to establish a routine by which you can
11

accomplish as much as possible in a given workday, whether that's three hours for a part-time
business or seven or nine hours as a full-timer. In fact, you should develop systems and routines
for just about every single business activity. Small things such as creating a to-do list at the end
of each business day, or for the week, will help keep you on top of important tasks to tackle.
Creating a single calendar to work from, not multiple sets for individual tasks or jobs, will also
ensure that jobs are completed on schedule and appointments kept. Incorporating family and
personal activities into your work calendar is also critical so that you work and plan from a
single calendar.
23. Take time off.
The temptation to work around the clock is very real for some home business owners. After all,
you don't have a manager telling you it's time to go home because they can't afford the overtime
pay. Every person working from home must take time to establish a regular work schedule that
includes time to stretch your legs and take lunch breaks, plus some days off and scheduled
vacations. Create the schedule as soon as you have made the commitment to start a home
business. Of course, your schedule will have to be flexible. You should, therefore, not fill every
possible hour in the day. Give yourself a backup hour or two. All work and no play makes you
burn out very fast and grumpy customer service is not what people want.
24. Limit the number of hats you wear.
It's difficult for most business owners not to take a hands-on approach. They try to do as much as
possible and tackle as many tasks as possible in their business. The ability to multitask, in fact, is
a common trait shared by successful entrepreneurs. However, once in a while you have to stand

12

back and look beyond today to determine what's in the best interest of your business and yourself
over the long run. Most highly successful entrepreneurs will tell you that from the time they
started out, they knew what they were good at and what tasks to delegate to others.
25. Follow-up constantly.
Constant contact, follow-up, and follow-through with customers, prospects, and business
alliances should be the mantra of every home business owner, new or established. Constant and
consistent follow-up enables you to turn prospects into customers, increase the value of each sale
and buying frequency from existing customers, and build stronger business relationships with
suppliers and your core business team. Follow-up is especially important with your existing
customer base, as the real work begins after the sale. It's easy to sell one product or service, but it
takes work to retain customers and keep them coming back.
James Stephenson is an experienced home based consultant with more than 15 years of business
and marketing experience.

CHAPTER III
SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR - DR. VERGHESE KURIEN
BIOGRAPHY OF DR. VERGHESE KURIENDr. Verghese Kurien was born on November 26, 1921 to an affluent Syrian
Christian family in Calicut (now Kozhikode), Kerala. His father Puthenparakkal
Kurien was a civil surgeon in British Cochin and his mother was a highly
educated woman as well an exceptional piano player. He was named after
13

his uncle Rao Sahib P.K Verghese. Dr Kurien joined Loyola College in Madras
and attained his degree in B.Sc in Physics. He was also very active in sports
and represented the college in cricket, badminton, boxing and tennis. He
went to the United States of America on government scholarship where he
pursued his degree in Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering
(Distinction). He returned to India after completion of his studies and on May
13, 1949 he headed for Anand, a place in Kaira district of Gujarat where he
was supposed to spend five years as an officer of the Dairy division in return
for the scholarship paid by the government. On arriving at Anand, he found
that the farmers were being exploited by the distributors of milk and the
entire region was controlled by a shrewd but clever businessman called as
"Pestonjee Edulji" who marketed Polson butter.
Looking at the struggle of these people to survive and mesmerized by the personality of their
leader Tribhuvandas Patel who was trying to unite the farmers and form a cooperative movement
against the exploitation, Dr. Kurien left his government job and joined forces with Tribhuvandas
Patel and the farmers to start the Milk Cooperative movement in the region registered under the
name of Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd (KDCMPUL), which was later
renamed to now popular "Amul". He worked towards bringing a White Revolution in India and
executed the much needed programme of "Operation Flood". Dr. Verghese Kurien married Susan
Molly Peter on June 15, 1953 and they had one daughter Nirmala Kurien and a grandson,
Siddharth. Dr. Kurein was the man responsible for turning India from a milk deficient country to
the largest producer of milk in the world today. Under his inspiring leadership many important
institutions were established namely the GCMMF (Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing
14

Federation Ltd) and NDDB (National Dairy Development board which played a significant role
in shaping the Dairy Cooperative movement across the country and led the replication of Anand
model of cooperative dairy practiced all over the country.
Dr. Kurien always regarded himself as an employee of the farmers who would do anything to
bring prosperity in their favor.In his service of over fifty years he attained 15 honorary degrees
from different institutions of the world as he believed that learning should never stop. His
enduring personality, spirit, undying charisma and conviction of turning the impossible into
possible won him many accolades such as the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community
Leadership (1963), Padma Shri (1965), Padma Bhushan (1966), Krishi Ratna Award (1986),
World Food prize (1989), Padma Vibhushan (1999), Economic Times award for Corporate
Excellence (2001) and several other awards, but the best award that the people of the country
gave him was the title "Milkman of India". After a lifetime of struggle and conviction towards
serving the nation Dr. Verghese Kurien breathe his last on 9 September 2012 due to brief illness
at Anand. Dr. Verghese Kurien will always be remembered as the person who redefined the
meaning of milk as a powerful tool for economic development.

CHAPTER IV
JOURNEY DR. VERGHESE KURIEN
1920-1940
It all began at Anand, a place in Kaira district, Gujarat famous for its Dairy Industry. It was ruled
by some old players who started their dairy in 1890s and 1910s. However during the 1920s a
new entrant called as Polson, which was led by a shrewd but clever Parsi businessman known
15

as Pestonjee Edulji entered the market. He started supplying Polson butter to the British Army
and its milk products soon became a household name. He built a large dairy in Anand in the year
1930. Once he was asked by the Bombay milk scheme whether it was possible for him to supply
milk from Anand to Bombay some 350 kilometers away. Never before had liquid milk
travelled such long distances, but Pestonjee was not the man who would let the opportunity go.
He pasteurized milk and transported it to Bombay in a rather primitive fashion in milk cans
wrapped up in gunny bags with chilled water poured on the cans. The experiment worked and
very soon Bombay became an important market for Polson. With this Pestonjee started
developing good relations with the government officials and he would persuade them to make
arrangement so that he could get benefit out of it. Pestonjee knew that the main source of milk is
the Kaira district so he persuaded the government officials to make arrangements that only
Polson dairy could procure milk from the district. His wish was granted and Pestonjee started
monopolizing the market; he started selling products to the people at higher prices and started
exploiting farmers by paying them less for their produce and since Pestonjee monopolized the
market, the milk producers had no option but become the victim of exploitation.
By 1945, the Polson dairy was flourishing and the farmers were getting more and more
exploited, leading to animosity among the farmers and hence the seeds of the movements were
sown..

1946
It was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patels vision that led to the growth of the cooperative movement.
After fighting for and winning the freedom he recognized that independence was more than a

16

political task. He knew that the rural people could never become completely free until they were
liberated from the exploitation of money lenders, burdens of the social ills and the caste and class
discrimination. He addressed the problems of building rural institutions and educating rural
people for their development.Sardar Patel urged the dairy farmers to organize milk cooperatives,
which would give them control over the resources they generated. He assigned Morarji Desai, his
deputy, to coordinate this effort. Morarji Desai organized a meeting where he asked people to
become the chairman of the cooperative and take the work ahead. A few people volunteered, but
Morarjibhai chose Tribhuvandas Patel who was a committed freedom fighter and the elected vice
president of the Kaira district congress committee. Tribhuvandas was a man of integrity and
honour and he started the cooperative by organizing the dairy farmers and he soon managed to
form a couple of cooperative societies. Although the farmers were ready to take their leaders
advice but since milk was such a perishable commodity, farmers had to accept the price that the
contractor offered and also Polson would use every trick in the book to procure milk at lower
prices by accusing the milk producers that their milk lacks quality. Farmers got fed up of the
daily exploitation and Tribhuvandas met Sardar Patel to seeka solution. Patel gave him a simple
solution that if they wanted to stop exploitation then they need to remove Polson from the market
by capturing the Bombay market for which they need to gather the masses and the cooperative
needs to own the dairy. Only, then they could pressurize the Bombay Milk scheme (BMS) to buy
milk from them and not Polson. However, Pestonjees reach was stronger than the cooperatives
and Tribhuvandas and companys plea was rejected. In protest of the BMS, the cooperative
society went on a 15 day strike, famously recalled in history as the Kaira strike. The farmers
collected the milk and poured it on the streets but not even a single drop was given to Polson.
Finally the BMS realized the strength of the union and kneeled to their demands. For

17

Tribhuvandas Patel this was morale boosting incident as he travelled mile after mile, village after
village trying to convince the famers to form the cooperative society. Finally in December 1946,
Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Limited (KDCMPUL) was registered. By
procuring the old dairy of World War I from the government they began their process.

1949
Arrival of Dr.Verghese Kurien at Anand
It was Friday, 13 May, 1949 when Dr. Verghese Kurien first arrived at Anand to serve his bond in
return of the scholarship he received from the government. Although he had no plans of working
in the village but soon he started noticing the movement of the farmers in the village and
admired the qualities of their leader, Tribhuvandas Patel. He started giving ideas to the
cooperative, shared his views on how to go ahead and advised them in the selection of machinery
for manufacturing milk. Tribhuvandas Patel recognized the potential of Dr. Verghese Kurien and
just on the day when Dr. Verghese Kurien resigned from his job and packed his bags to leave,
Tribhuvandas asked him to help him in setting the new dairy in the village, since no one in the
village was able to run the new machinery. Dr. Kurien agreed and stayed back to help them.

1952
Increasing production of the cooperative
Although, Kurien stopped for a few days but looking at the struggle of the farmers he stayed
back. He worked for the farmers in creating a better life for them by taking the cooperative
movement ahead. He started working day and night for the dairy along with Tribhuvandas and

18

hundreds of farmers. On the advice of Dr. Kurien, Tribhuvandas left the old machinery of
manufacturing milk and collected money from the cooperative and bought new machinery from
Larsen and Toubro in 1951. Dr. Kurien joined the cooperative as General Manager in 1950. With
the new machinery in place, the procurement capacity of the cooperative rose from 200 litres of
milk in 1948 to 20,000 litres in 1952. Slowly and gradually the name of Kaira reached till Delhi
and the Anand model of cooperative started growing.

1955
Worlds First Buffalo Milk Powder plant
After returning from New Zealand, Dr. Kurien started his experiment of obtaining milk powder
from buffalo milk. Through a series of experiments under the guidance of Dalaya and other
cooperative members, Dr. Kurien became successful in making milk powder from buffalo milk
and planned to build a plant where they could manufacture the buffalo milk powder.

On November 15, 1954, the first president of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad laid the foundation for
the worlds first dairy to manufacture milk powder from buffalo milkat Anand . Dr. Kurien was
confident that the plant could be erected in a period of one year and when Maniben asked him
who he wants to inaugurate the plant, he said Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. When contacted, Pandit
Nehru gracefully accepted the invitation and informed that he would inaugurate the plant on
October 31, 1955, the birth anniversary of Sarder Vallabhbhai Patel, which gave them exactly 11
months to build the plant. The work started and experts from foreign countries were called to
erect the plant and finally on the day of the inauguration all the preparations were done.

19

Pandit Nehru inaugurated the plant and gave an inspiring speech which boosted the morale of the
cooperative. This is how the worlds first buffalo milk powder manufacturing plant came to life.

1957
Birth of Amul
With the increasing production capacity of the plant and the progressive nature of the
cooperative, it was time to take the competition under consideration and there was a need to
understand the finer points of marketing Kaira Cooperatives products. At a brainstorming
session to come up with a good name for the products, a chemist at the laboratory suggested the
name Amul. It comes from a Sanskrit word Amoolya which means priceless. Also it stood as
an acronym for Anand Milk Union Limited. Advertising and Sales Promotion (ASP) did a fine
job by crafting the Amul polka dotted girl and the best baseline a brand has ever had Utterly
Butterly Delicious. the credit for the work goes to Eustace Fernandez, Slyvester Da cunha and
his team.
The name was registered in the year 1957 and till today it is the most recalled household name.
It was also a special year for Dr. Kurien as her daughter Nirmala was born in 1957.

1962
War against China
In 1962, the clouds of war against China darkened the nation. The Prime Ministers office called
the Amul cooperative to help the government as the army needed milk powder during the war;
the requirement was 2750 tons within six months. Although that was outside the reach of the
20

Amul cooperative but in collaboration with the Rajkot dairy they fulfilled the demand of the
government by completely seizing the consumer market. The integrity of the cooperative and its
leaders was such that when asked what they want in return of this favour, they said nothing
and proved that in real sense it is serving the nation. Minoo Polson (son of Pestonjee Edulji) tried
to increase the prices of its butter and take undue advantage of the scenario. When it came to the
notice of Amul cooperative, they froze the manufacturing of Polson with the help of the
government.

1964
Lal Bahadur Shastri visits Anand
On the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the then Prime Minister of India, Lal
Bahadur Shastri , who had heard a lot about the development process going in Anand, he called
the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Balwantrai Mehta and made an unusual request. He
mentioned that he would like to visit Anand but a day earlier and spend a night at a small
farmers house with no police protection where he can move freely and talk with the villagers.
His main objective was to understand the life of the farmer and the way they perform functions
at the cooperative. Balwantrai Mehta immediately conveyed the message to Dr. Kurien and
raised the security issues related to the Prime Ministers request. But, like always Dr. Kurien
found a way out and planned to take Shastriji secretly to a village 10 kms away from Anand
called Ajarpura where he spent a night at a farmers house named Ramanbhai. The security
cars were taken straight to Anand.

21

During his night stay in Ajarpura the Prime Minister moved freely in the village and asked
several questions to the villagers regarding their life, Amul and how the cooperative brought
prosperity to their life. When the next day he arrived at Anand, he was most attentive to
understand the working of the cooperative and applauded the work of the cooperative by giving
an inspiring speech.
The Prime Minister stayed at Dr. Kuriens home and in the evening had a detailed conversation
where he mentioned his experience of having spent a night at a village and talking to the farmers.
He said that he thought something special about Anand but he found nothing special. He added
that the soil of Anand is not as good as the Indo-Gangetic plains, the climate is cold in winter and
very hot in summer, rainfall is more or less similar to other places. He remarked that he expected
greenery but it was all dusty and brown and the buffalos give less milk than the one in his home
state of Uttar Pradesh and lastly the farmers here are good people but less hard working than the
ones of Punjab. He was curious that what has then made this cooperative as the Centre of
attraction of the world? Dr. Kurien agreed to all the observations of the Prime Minister but he
mentioned one very important thing that it is the farmers cooperative union, they are the owners
of the dairy and he was just an employee of the farmer. Being a dairy which is owned by the
farmers gives them the will power and the energy to face every challenge and overcome it.
The Prime Minister was convinced by his explanation asked him to replicate the Anand model in
other parts of the country, which made Dr. Kurien imagine about the social and economic
prosperity they could bring about if the model is replicated. He knew that it is going to be a
tedious task but it was not impossible as the man with the stature and class of Dr. Kurien will

22

always grow strong with the challenge. He started thinking and planning how this big dream can
be brought to life and be replicated throughout the country.

1965
Mr Kurien becomes Dr. Kurien and Quest for Operation Flood
The year of 1965 was fairly momentous for the cooperative society and also for Dr. Kurien.
Michigan State University conferred an honorary degree of "Doctor of Science" thereby
promoting him from Mr. Kurien to "Dr. Kurien".
In September 1965, the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was registered under the
Societies Registration Act, 1860. With this the dream of replicating the Amul model throughout
the country and bringing it to reality became stronger.
Dr. Kurien started thinking on the plan and he worked in coordination with Micheal Hales who
was Food and Agriculture expert and a Harvard trained visiting faculty at the Indian Institute of
Management (IIM) and H.M Dalaya. Michael Hales noted down all the points to be taken into
consideration to replicate the plan and helped the cooperative to draft their plan to be presented
to the government seeking their support for the programme. The amount that was required for
replicating the Anand Model all over the country was over 650 crore rupees as estimated by the
cooperative team. When the plan was presented to the state government and the other authorities,
it was rejected as the government had the control over the dairy industry in India and they never
wished to give that power to the villagers. It also led to a lot of corruption and soon the
cooperative realized that they need to do something different. It was very easy to drop the plan

23

but the conviction of the leader and the cooperative was not going to shy away from the
challenge.

1968
Seizing the opportunity
There was a surplus production of milk in the European countries. So much so, that they had no
clue what to do with the surplus milk. At that time, the Home Secretary, L.P Singh recommended
Dr. Kurien to present their proposal to these European countries at the event, which happened in
Rome called as the World Food Programme (WFP). Dr. Kurien realized that this opportunity will
never come again as these nations will never commit this mistake again of over producing. Dr.
Kurien visited Rome in October 1968 to present NDDB's project proposal to a twenty four nation
executive committee of the WFP. The Agriculture Secretary of the Government of India at that
time was B.R Patel who introduced Dr. Kurien to the WFP committee to present India's point of
view. Dr. Kurien was waiting for this opportunity and was all set to go. He started by elaborating
on the importance of milk in India. With a huge population there is a big space for dairy
development in India and his intention was to replicate the Anand model in various parts of the
country. He simply explained how he intended to use the donated milk to sell at a regular price in
India in order to capture the markets of Delhi, Bangalore and other metros and milk rich cities
and then generate the money out of it to fund the Operation Flood programme where his major
goal was to make India a self-sufficient country in milk and milk products. He also added that if
a country donates milk worth $100 million then it can expect 10% return on investment hence
the donation is in fact an investment. He continued that he is not asking for such donations to sell

24

them at a lower rate and make money out of it as many countries do it but to use it to raise
money for Operation Flood to make India self-sufficient.
The elaborate and passionate presentation was liked and more importantly very well received by
the committee. Hence in March 1970, the proposal to award India the food aid donation was
signed between the Government of India and the WFP.
The cooperative won the major battle here which kick started the Operation Flood.

1970-1980
Phase 1 of Operational Flood/Billion Liter Idea
In a nutshell the approach was very simple. The first step was that the donated milk products
would be reconstituted to provide the Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta and Madras liquid schemes with
enough milk to obtain a commanding share of the markets. Next, the funds realized from this
reconstitution and sale of donated products were used to resettle city-kept cattle and help them to
breed and to increase organized milk production, its procurement and processing. Finally this
entire operation would be directed towards stabilizing the position of major liquid milk schemes
in their markets.

1981-1985

25

Phase 2 of Operational Flood/Billion Liter Idea

The second phase of the operation flood, which lasted from 1981 to 1985, was implemented with
the seed capital raised from the sale of European Economic Committee's (EEC) gifts as well as a
World Bank loan of Rs 200 crore. With this phase, the number of milk sheds increased the outlets
for milk produced. By the end of this phase more than 43,000 village cooperatives covering 4.25
million milk producers were established.

1985-1996
Phase 3 of Operational Flood/Billion Liter Idea
The third phase of the operation added 30,000 new dairy cooperatives to the 42,000 existing
societies. Member education was intensified, and significantly, the number of women members
and women's Dairy cooperative societies increased considerably. This phase focused on assisting
unions to expand and strengthen their procurement and marketing infrastructure to manage the
increasing volumes of milk (by 1989 the number of milk sheds had grown to 173). Veterinary
healthcare services, feed and artificial insemination services for cooperative members were
extended. During this decade the increased emphasis was on research and development on
animal health and animal nutrition.

26

CHAPTER V
Operational Flood
Operation Flood: one of the world's largest rural development programmes Launched in 1970,
Operation Flood has helped dairy farmers direct their own development, placing control of the
resources they create in their own hands. A National Milk Grid links milk producers throughout
India with consumers in over 700 towns and cities, reducing seasonal and regional price
variations while ensuring that the producer gets fair market prices in a transparent manner on a
regular basis. The bedrock of Operation Flood has been village milk producers' cooperatives,
which procure milk and provide inputs and services, making modern management and
technology available to members. Operation Flood's objectives included :

Increase milk production ("a flood of milk")

Augment rural incomes

Reasonable prices for consumers

Programme Implementation
Operation Flood was implemented in three phases.
Phase I
Phase I (1970-1980) was financed by the sale of skimmed milk powder and butter oil gifted by
the European Union then EEC through the World Food Programme. NDDB planned the
programme and negotiated the details of EEC assistance.

27

During its first phase, Operation Flood linked 18 of India's premier milksheds with consumers in
India's four major metropolitan cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.
Phase II
Operation Flood's Phase II (1981-85) increased the milksheds from 18 to 136; 290 urban
markets expanded the outlets for milk. By the end of 1985, a self-sustaining system of 43,000
village cooperatives covering 4.25 million milk producers had become a reality. Domestic milk
powder production increased from 22,000 tons in the pre-project year to 140,000 tons by 1989,
all of the increase coming from dairies set up under Operation Flood. In this way EEC gifts and
World Bank loan helped to promote self-reliance. Direct marketing of milk by producers'
cooperatives increased by several million litres a day.
Phase III
Phase III (1985-1996) enabled dairy cooperatives to expand and strengthen the infrastructure
required to procure and market increasing volumes of milk. Veterinary first-aid health care
services, feed and artificial insemination services for cooperative members were extended, along
with intensified member education.
Operation Flood's Phase III consolidated India's dairy cooperative movement, adding 30,000
new dairy cooperatives to the 42,000 existing societies organised during Phase II. Milksheds
peaked to 173 in 1988-89 with the numbers of women members and Women's Dairy Cooperative
Societies increasing significantly.

28

Phase III gave increased emphasis to research and development in animal health and animal
nutrition. Innovations like vaccine for Theileriosis , bypass protein feed and urea-molasses
mineral blocks, all contributed to the enhanced productivity of milch animals.
From the outset, Operation Flood was conceived and implemented as much more than a dairy
programme. Rather, dairying was seen as an instrument of development, generating employment
and regular incomes for millions of rural people. "Operation Flood can be viewed as a
twenty year experiment confirming the Rural Development Vision" ( World Bank Report
1997c.)

29

CHAPTER VI
SPEECHES BY DR. VERGHESE KURIEN

March 24, 1994 : XXV Dairy Industry Conference

August 30, 1991 : Vallabhai Patel Memorial Lecture

1991 - Cooperative Development group : Cooperative Leadership & Cooperative Values

December 15, 1990 : Sardar Patel University

December 12, 1990 : Bal Dattatraya Award Lecture

December 13, 1989 : Shri Ram Memorial Lecture Cooperatives and Capital

December 13, 1989 : Shri Ram Memorial Lecture

October 17, 1989 : Presentation of the World Food Prize at Washington

March 9, 1988 : Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute Dimensions of Deve

January 16, 1988 : South Gujarat University

February 10, 1987 : Prof.J. C. Kane Memorial Lecture

September 3, 1986 : Third Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial IFFCO Lecture

May 13, 1986 : Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda

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December 10,1983 : Socio-economic Impact of Operation Flood

January 29th, 1982 : 1st Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture

November 2, 1982 : Mohan Kumaramangalam Memorial Lecture

August 28th, 1982 : Breed improvement and milk production

October 17, 1981 : All India Womens Conference

March 7, 1978 : Dr. Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Lecture

December 20, 1975 : National Investment and Finance anniversary

December 16, 1972 : Rajmitra A. D. Amin Memorial Lecture

DAIRY DEVELOPMENT THOUGH CO-OPERATIVES IN INDIA : Shri Ramchandra

Sarvotam Dubhashi Memorial Lecture

PUBLIC SERVICE BY PRIVATE PERSONS : Programme of Training for Democracy

Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial Lecture on Cooperative Marketing : Patel's Vision of the Indian
Cooperative Movement.

31

CHAPTER VII
THOUGHTS OF DR. VERGHESE KURIEN

Dr. Verghese Kurien will always be remembered as a man with strong will and self-

belief.
Here are few of his thoughts.
India's place in the sun would come from the partnership between wisdom of its rural

people and skill of its professionals

The milk of India is produced by millions of small and marginal farmers and landless

labourers'. It is on their behalf and in their name that i accept this high honour.
India needs to show an honest face, a kind face, a human face - and not an arrogant face
as the powerful nations of today (do). What you need is good management with farmer
power. Good management gives this power the right direction and thrust. Nothing can

stop the farmers then. Least of all the MNCs.

Milk is the only commodity which has to be collected twice a day, every day of the year.
Thus, cooperatives are the only logical system for the dairy industry. About 85% of the
industry in the US, Denmark and Australia is run by cooperatives. No other system will
work for milk. Who told you there is one Amul? There are more than 175 Amuls across

various districts (in Gujarat).

True development is not the development of land, or of cows; it is the development of

men and women.

Innovation cannot be mandated or forced on people; it is everywhere, a function of the
quality of the people and the environment. We need to have enough skilled people

working in a self- actuating environment to produce innovation

I am like a cat, throw me wherever you want to, I will still stand on my feet Eight hours
for dairy, eight hours for family and eight hours for sleep

32

My philosophy in life is to do as much good as I can to those who are less fortunate, but I

would like to live my life as a common man

The time has come for massive rural development in our country. The task is daunting
and the opposing is great, but I believe that it is also the greatest opportunity that has ever

been presented to a society such as ours.

I trust, in a humble way - dairying is such as instrument of change: an instrument not only
of technical change, but also of economic and social change. It is to such instruments that

we must look to build the India tomorrow.

All the tools are with us, in our Hands, to effect the transformation of our predominantly

rural society. Never has an elite had such an opportunity.

In every successful grassroots cooperative, members trust their leaders. Trust is the most

cost-effective way to manage cooperatives.

If we can again create the environment, the opportunity, and the education, our villages
will provide a new generation of leaders who will not only rebuild our cooperative

movement, but who will help us to build a truly great nation.

This process of modernization cannot merely demonstrate to producers the application of
such techniques as artificial insemination, improved animal feeding etc. On the contrary,
it inevitably shows the producers that they can use modern science and technology to

achieve the larger objectives of their own lives.

To be quite honest, service to our nation's farmers was not the career I had envisioned for
myself. But somehow, a series of events swept me along and put me in a certain place at a

certain time when I had to choose between one option and another.
Sardar Vallabhai Patel's vision has always been a source of great inspiration. He knew
that our rural people could never become really free until they were liberated from the
exploitation of moneylenders. Sardar Patel believed that the way to address these
problems was to build rural institutions that would serve the farmers' economic interests.
He urged dairy farmers to organize milk cooperatives, which would give them control
33

over the resources they generated and assigned Morarji Desai, his Deputy, to coordinate

this effort.
I was fortunate that I enjoyed the support of all the governments that came to power. I
have been and continue to be, highly critical of our bureaucracy. Fortunately for us,
within our bureaucracy, there are a number of people who are dedicated, patriotic and

able.
I am in the business of empowerment. Milk is just a tool in that.
I am supposed to exploit the consumer; and I will (exploit them), but not in a way that
will create resentment. I have to milk the consumer. And milk them I will, but gently.

CHAPTER VIII
Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs
In his book "Theory of Economic Development", Joseph Schumpeter articulated that an
enterprise carries out new combinations of ideas and an entrepreneur is the one implementing
them. When starting a new venture, one is looking for new ideas, re-orienting old ones,
working alone or with partners to carry out the radical thoughts. Ventures are difficult with
respect to the degree of difficulty, the time and effort involved, thorough analysis to be
conducted, the detailed planning, and lastly for the correct bearing of risk involved.
The two important ingredients in a successful venture are the people involved, and the focal
idea. A poor idea can't be implemented by the best people, and the best idea would not stand

34

a chance on its own. The organization must start with a clearly defined set of goals
highlighting

what

it

would

like

to

achieve

in

its

future.

To have a successful entrepreurial idea, it must create disequilibrium in the marketplace. To

protect from failure and create a strategic competitive advantage, one must ensure that the
idea is radical in nature. Once it enters the marketplace, you would like it to capture an
leadership position in as many of Porter's "Five Forces" variables as possible. The only way
to ensure great success in the venture is to strive to create a monopoly, with high barriers to
entry.
To be successful in the long run, the venture requires scientific methods of forecasting. The
belief that the future is created, not predicted must run strongly in the enterprise. Information
key to entrepreneurial success must be stores, reviewed, and easily accessible to all parts of
the organization. One must be careful though to ensure that the quality of such information is
top

notch.

One

must

verify

all

data

and

disregard

all

the

noise

Innovative solutions art with an area of interest common to the participants. The starting
point should be a search for 'vacant fields'; that is areas where there is no competition. In
such a situation the entrepreneur has the flexibility of creating barriers to entry. 'Vacant fields'
are found through research and uncovering knowledge often overlooked by society. Before
jumping into this metaphorical field, one must analyze the situation within the industry.
There are three possible explanations to a lack of competition. There could be a known
solution but no action; the solution might not be known; or the area has never been explored.
For the first case, one must research why no action has been taken. Has it been overlooked?
Have others tried and failed? In the second case, we must identify the ignorance of the
mistake. The thrid scenerio shows a lack of effort on the part of the competition. Results

35

from this 'ignorance profile' should be evaluated to identify the problem, possible solutions,
or to pursue further research.
There are other areas that must also be examined when creating successful ventures. Keynes
in"General Theory of Employment, Interest & Money", believed that successful enterprises
need the reasonable calculations mentioned above along with a set of 'animal spirits'. The
entrepreneur is a very interesting being and as per Solomon & Winslow in "Towards a
Descriptive Profile of an Entrepreneur", has been described historically as a risk taker, risk
avoider, dispaced, passionate, social deviate, etc. But they emphasise the confidence, logical
thinking, optimism and self-reliance of entrepreneurs as a key to their success. In a successful
entrepreneurial venture, it is imperitive that everyone involved believes in these values and
respects them. The venture must be lead by someone as described by Evan in "Hollow the
Leader"; they must have good communication and interaction skill and would not enforce
conformity.
In conclusion, a successful entrepreneurial venture must have certain key properties. It must
be a mixture of logic in servicing the laws of economics, the ability and desire to lead,
common sense, creativity, and the mental fortitude to make key decisions.
Building a successful business is not some great mystery. Its not about coming up with a
revolutionary new product building a better mousetrap if you will. Its not about being
smarter or better or luckier. Its not about learning some secret marketing strategy that only
the top people know about.
Being a successful entrepreneur is fairly simple. Its about understanding some business
basics, having the right attitude and consistently doing the work necessary to succeed.

36