Customer Reviews

Vision India 2020

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Vision India 2020 describes where India could be - or should be 10 years down the road. Is the country destined to remain an outsourcing haven? No - and anyway, this outsourcing industry shows some cracks. Is its historical heritage doomed to disappear entirely? Yes, if nothing is done. Are the sprawling slums going to turn into a playground for criminal activities or gigantic cutthroat arenas in Mumbai, Kolkata or Dehli? Maybe, if nobody cares. Some predictable catastrophes only happen to those who choose to bury their heads in the sand. Sramana's Vision India 2020 is an entrepreneurial utopia, as well as a personal and intellectual futuristic autobiography.

"If I could help my country evolve, what would I do?" Sramana asks herself as a premise of the book. She starts with her life-story, which took her from India to Smith College, MIT and then, Silicon Valley, and then projects herself ten years down the road, describing how India has evolved into a state-of-the-art, modern country. It all changed with a stronger educational system (an MIT India, an effective K-12 teaching methodology, or Harvard Medical School India) and incentives to leverage local talents and attract foreigners, with the practical applications of new technologies, the revamping of the country's infrastructure as well as an optimal and creative utilization of its vast natural resources, its sophisticated human and cultural heritage.

Vision India 2020 is not a fairyland, but the description of a new present based on an extrapolation of capabilities that are at our disposal today. In 2008, Sramana saw the potential of Energy Discovery Inc. (ERI) when her husband, Dominique Trempont, joined the board of this company founded by a Norwegian Entrepreneur, H.P. Michelet. At a time when humanity faces a global water supply crisis, is it beyond common sense to think that desalinisation plants along the coast of Orissa should provide water to the South Indian states? So much smarter than diverting rivers from the Himalayas! Is a "Doctor on Wire" telemedecine franchise for rural India an odd fabrication of the mind? The concept is here today. It's not a stretch. It's a matter of scaling with a purpose or simply applying what we know today. What prevents an entrepreneur from creating Zen retreats similar to the one at Tassajara in California amid the rice fields of Bankura? Nothing.

I liked this book for many reasons, but here are some of them:

1) It is well written: India is so vividly pictured that it's hard to think that it's not yet real.

2) It's a passionate plea of a woman from India to a country that she loves. Her life today is definitely international. Most of what she loved in her childhood is gone with the mango orchards of her grandfather in Rajarhat, but she is not trying to resurrect the past. She wants her homeland to exceed her dreams.

3) It's a great entrepreneurial message: It's any entrepreneur's responsibility to change the world for the better. While nostalgia sounds great, expanding the world of what's possible is ten times more exciting.

4) It's courageous: Most prospective books distill pompous predictions without taking the risk of talking implementation and telling you how things can look in practice. Experts on the future of India undoubtedly produce remarkable documents. Sramana has the guts to describe her personal vision as if it were reality with no jargon.

Finally, it's a great book to reflect about what history is about. We are all familiar with the difficult transition from a pre-industrial stage to an industrial age, and basically since the early eighteen hundreds, every single country has followed the same patterns and generated the same by-products, i.e. the same ecological and human disasters. What Vision India 2020 contemplates is a way to cut short the mess created from the first stages of massive industrialization in the digital age. As Sramana puts it optimistically: ""It is the entrepreneurs, and the entrepreneurs alone, who wield the most potent weapons of mass reconstruction. To build markets; to build nations; to build worlds."

Although I am not a business specialist, I do have a permanent passion for India and a lively interest in the globalizing economy. Ms. Mitra's book is unique in combining her impressive background, her pointedly focused yet wide perspective, and her method of seamlessly fusing future projections with present case studies. Assuming, as she does, that the period of India's emergence as a world leader in routine backroom operations is rapidly leveling off, she offers an inspiring vision of a deeper, more creative phase now getting under way, a vision which sensitively links hi tech skill and modern business savvy with a broadly based humanism -- an amalgam entirely appropriate to the world's largest democracy.

I thought this was a visionary, yet realistic look at what India of ten years hence might look like. It makes the case that the proper application of India's unique talents will provide it with the opportunity to excel in the world of 2020.

An excellent book by Sramana on fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in developing countries, notably India. The author's first hand experience in education and professional pursuits lends credibility to the lessons enumerated in the book. It should be a useful and enlightening guideline for India's policy makers and business thinkers. The book delves into the mechanism of entrepreneurial spirit and provides optimism and hope to any individual hoping to do good and achieve success.

It is an interesting premise for the basis of a book, shorn of many of the greater issues that India faces from poverty to crime to population to education; the simple premise is what can I do to help my country not fall back to where it was. This is a respectable question to ask anyone in any country, but Sramana Mitra asks the question of India, and many of its young entrepreneurs and business leaders. The stories are compelling and interesting, and one that we would do well to ask in every country. As the boom and bust cycle in economics continues to wreak havoc Vision India 2020 is a simple book of stories, about people, who are trying to change the world.

The parallels between the USA and India are deeply visible in this book. A small few thinkers, innovators, business people, entrepreneurs are trying to change the world, not just for themselves but for their countries as well. The discussions and thoughts throughout the book are inspiring regardless of the country you come from. The passion is evident, the ideas throughout the book are solutions that make sense to the tasks that are being done, there is little to no hype in the book, or the ideas being proposed. It is common sense solutions to the issues that we all face as part of the global society, driven by the passion and love of country and ideas. This is a book you want to pick up if you want to be inspired, and you want to ask yourself, how can I help my country.

Rated 5 of 5 stars - well worth reading.

Vision 2020 is a richly painted collection of interwoven stories that are part business case study, part futurist fiction, and ultimately scenarios that should stir the creative juices of entrepreneurs, policy makers, and India-watchers alike. While presented as a series of vignettes drawing upon trends that are recognizable today, these start-up enterprises are sketched out on a bold scale to imagine "what-if": what if the right resources could be brought together? what if an entrepreneur had the benefit of deep strategic experience? and, what if existing ideas could be combined in new and innovative ways? Vision 2020 succeeds in demonstrating the enormous possiblities of the entrepreneurial spirit because it reflects the deep personal story of Sramana Mitra herself - her childhood in India, her education in the U.S., her hands-on work across a large variety of start-ups, and her intense curiosity and passion on a wide range of social, cultural, and business issues. Imagine what is possible if each entrepreneur were able to tap into his or her own story in the same way.

Vision India 2020 is a collection of ideas on entrepreneurship in India. This futuristic retrospective book outlines strategies and ways to turn entrepreneurial dreams into reality.

The growing powerhouse India needs to churn out more innovative solutions in different sectors to sustain its economic growth. This book provides solution and hope to some of the important areas of concern:

Technology
Infrastructure
Rural and slum development
Healthcare
Lifestyle Brands
Entertainment

How is this book different from its peers?

Most other books on business provide prospective solutions. This book is in retrospect. Sramana Mitra assumes that we are already in 2020 India. In that case, she does not have any doubt that we have already treaded through the unsolved mysteries.

The author provides hope to millions of pseudo-entrepreneurs in India. It's like just get on your feet and reach your dreams. The author blends her own life-story with prospective entrepreneurial ventures. It might be a little difficult for people from other backgrounds to relate to that, but coming from similar cultural background, I never felt awkward.

What is so good about this book?

Immaculate writing style: There was never a dull moment and I was fascinated with the flow of the writing. The ideas were so wonderfully knitted together that I was sometimes confused that it is futuristic and not already existing.

Innovative ideas: The book provides new ideas to become an entrepreneur. Sometimes you might feel that this is not something new but people had talked about it before. But what is innovative is that these mundane unrealistic ideas had been incarnated in this book as realistic.

Solving the jigsaw puzzle: At times, we all come-up with bits and pieces of ideas. The problem is that we don't know what to do with them and soon find them lost in our busy daily schedules. This book brings in together all aspects of our ideas to solve the puzzle. It is very comprehensive and connects without much stress different stages of production.

Dreams may actually come true: It is a journey where like many other Indians, the author dreams of a better, more productive India. However, we all dream but don't think how to make that realistic. The author has very nicely paved the way for that transition. Her ideas are sure to boost more entrepreneurs and small businesses in India, a requirement for keeping the economy vibrant.

India is a country with huge potential. The worlds largest democracy, India also ranks as the second most populous country on the planet with a growing number of specialists and potential to improve from a mostly third world country to a powerhouse. "Vision India 2020" is a book that imagines the myriad ways India can move in terms of improving training, education, and business opportunities in the country. A work of fition, Mitra makes a convincing argument for India, and it's not difficult to see India coming to fruition as she imagines.

I was pleased when I found that these are all very short (fictional) business cases for potential businesses that can be born out of the use of internet technologies.

The writing is crisp, clean, and clearly thought out.

This is a great "futurists" guide for generating some ideas around potential businesses in ANY country.

Author Sramana Mitra's 6 page intro tells you why she is well-qualified to brainstorm Indian business ideas. Her 45 business ideas come from her blog on entrepreneurship. Technology, education, transportation, lifestyle, entertainment and fashion are just some of the areas covered.

Each idea is presented in a short, easy-to-read chapter. I enjoy reading real life case studies. As a consultant I've done plenty of forecasts. Reading the first three chapters gave me cognitive dissonance. I shut the book. As a blog, the narrative conveys wisdom. As a book, the style disturbs the brain.

The dissonance came because I couldn't differentiate between fact and fiction. Reflecting for a couple of days, I decided to give the book another try, framing it as scenario planning, a familiar strategic planning methodology.

The first venture, MIT India, is real. Who knows where it will be in 2020? Will it be a $3B enterprise as envisioned in the book? The second Lucid math, has a non-working website and HotChalk is a real company. Is HotChalk really a partner as the book says? I don't know. The third business, Maya Ray doctors' office outsourcing, seems genuine enough, but I can't find out more about it. Is Taxonomy real? It's an Indian clone of European software company Autonomy - about which Sramana gives true facts.

Sramana consults with her husband she tells us. She inspires me to ask my husband whether the book fits one of his favorite genres - Science Fiction. He says it's not science fiction. With plenty of true facts, I reason it's not entirely management fiction. It isn't exactly b-school case study material, and it isn't entrepreneurial fantasy either.

Sramana vividly describes how to get each venture underway providing a practical guide for entrepreneurs wanting to start a business and for corporations looking to expand in new markets. The book is full of ideas for graduating students who want to work in companies likely to gain traction and grow. My husband was a bit skeptical about whether India could replicate Pixar with Elixar - I love the company names in this book. Even with Bollywood's huge success, would Elixar really hire John Lasseter?

I suggest reading this book with a search engine at your side so you can delve deeper into any of the book's many ideas. I'm glad I persisted in my attempt to read it, for Sramana leads you down some delightful paths as she draws on her deep rolodex, knowledge of industry trends and experience in guiding ventures.

Don't sweat the small stuff (Don't Sweat the Small Stuff at Work). Vision India 2020 is a book of big ideas. Ideas to implement, ideas to enrich and ideas to renew.

Disclosure: I first met Sramana on the recommendation of her uncle when she was starting the entrepreneurial career she describes so well.