Essentials of an Entrepreneur by Dr. Velumani Arokiaswamy, Founder of Thyrocare

Foreign.

And you know, welcome to Abritkaal Mentors launch day series of mentor keynote sessions. We have, you know, we chose the day today, January 12, 2025, as the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, who happens to know the one of the mentors of the country. And it's also celebrated as the National Youth Day. We had a formal kickoff earlier this morning and now we have the unique honor. I'm so excited that I'm going to take my pen in a notebook to take a lot of notes to listen to Dr. Velumani Arukayaswamy who had the privilege to meet when we were at ISHA several years ago. So the topic he's going to be speaking about is directly from his experience. Not from a book, but from his own experience. The essence essentials of an entrepreneur. And you know, born in Upper Naiganpati, I hope I say that correctly, Upanayagan Patti in Coimbatore in 1959. He did his master's and PhD from Mumbai University in thyroid biochemistry. Now, I didn't know that. I don't know if that's how the Thyro care came. And after working for 14 years in Bark, which is Baba Atomic Research center, those of you may not know, he started a business and brand Thyrocare in 1995. So roughly about 30 years ago, in 2016, it got listed in, you know, national New York Stock Exchange NSE. And in 2021, he exited the company when the company was valued at $1 billion, you know, B billion dollars, USD US dollars. So he's known as the par excellence storyteller about life, career and business. I watch his reels, I watch him on his Instagram. And every time I'm inspired by every word because they all come from a source of clarity and with an intention of care. And he really wants each and every one of us to become better. So over to you, Dr. Vel Mani, on your thoughts about Essentials of an entrepreneur.

Sorry sir, just a second. Someone from the audience raised a hand. Do they have any question? If you have any questions, you can.

Keep it for the end of the session, or else. Yeah, please let us know.

We will ask these questions at the end. Alicia, let the questions keep coming in. So we'll get started. Dr. Vilmani, myself and Alicia will go off video, but we are here. Okay. Over to you, sir.

Good morning. Good morning to all of you. Wish you all a very, very happy 2025.

And.

I am known as.

A man who did something which has impacted the Indian healthcare industry, specifically Pathology industry.

So I will tell you the story of how I did what I did. How different I did. Why I did so.

And the entire story itself will have all essentials that are for entrepreneurship.

Of course every entrepreneur has his own story, his own priorities, his own unique strengths. So I would advise. Suno sabki karu apni means listen to all and gather wisdom. Don't cut paste.

So I am. My name very clearly suggests I am from. Yeah.

Town of Tamil Nadu.

Sorry, just hold on. I'm trying to get my screen right.

Right.

No. No. Yeah. I. I thought I am seeing in 1/4 of the screen and I was trying to adjust the screen.

Right. So I am from a village called Apanai Kanbati. Not that everybody can spell it. It's not in Taluk. Map. And the story is how a boy from a small village made it to national Stock exchange. And how. Yeah. Madrasi sat in Mumbai and challenged the Gujarati's Marwadis who conventionally do business. Also how a mathematics background man could disrupt a pathology industry. And of course how Sarkar Babu, he was there in government for 15 years could become. Yeah. MD of a listed company. So this the.

Background. And I feel very proud to tell I am from a village. I also feel very proud to tell I am. I was born poor. Now this is a bit of confusing for many who believe cities will help you grow better, faster. And if you are born rich you will have enough to start with.

But I believe my strength is again as I said it is village and poverty. And I will explain you why. So a man born in village and a man born poor. Very powerful concoction. And he is challenged right from the word go. And his day starts with a problem, ends with a problem and the entire day and many problems.

No money in hand. You have to solve. No servants to solve your problem. You have to solve all your problem.

So I believe.

Villages are the true universities where MBA is taught only by practicals not by theory. No lectures. You are having problems and you need to sort out the problems. So I believe.

You know. Otherwise I have no reason to tell what gave me success. Of course hard work, of course luck. But then you know what I believe is my strength to be where I am today is because I was having a right start. That's the poverty plus village. Success in life is Delta. Delta is X2 minus X1. X2 is where you are today. X1 was where you were that day. And my X1 was zero. Believe me there is no downside for zero.

Which means you are very Powerful decision maker. Because you nothing to lose. So this is the basic background. And my mother was a lady whom I believe one very rare. That kind of women. My father was neither an employee nor an employer. Five children, no income.

Single handedly my mother managed two buffaloes.

70 liters and milk a week. A rupee a liter.

70 rupees a week. Trust me, she never borrowed a single penny from anyone. Narci took any help from anyone. She made sure all her children were Madras University graduates and Mumbai University postgraduates. So the power of frugality, the power of leadership. All these things are very essential for entrepreneurship. Which I learned very early. And I had. I was with my mother for 24 years in Coimbatore. All those years he was educating me on how to live with.

Low resources. Literally it was no resources. But I think we had some resources to survive. So that's how my village was. And I didn't have Arlex, Bon Vitas even Dictionary Atlas and not birthdays. Parent teacher, associates. And no school bus. No Baichu. Those days. School days. One class teacher, five classes, one classroom.

Thanks to Mr. Kanraj who was the best Chief Minister India ever had. He brought meals to the schools. Otherwise I might have not gone to the school.

And Tamil medium. Fortunately I studied. I still again want to tell that first 15 years with Tamil medium you learn better. And I am happy that I was in Tamil Medium. So I think some of these things which I say made me very strong. I believe they made me strong. Which many may not believe. But then you have to believe somewhere something made me powerful.

I finished my BSc. BSE was maths, physics, Chemistry. Chemistry major, Maths and Physics and ancillaries. I was first class. But I didn't get any job in Coimbatore. Everybody in Coimbatore looked for only experienced. So they kept on asking and I kept on. I failed for literally dozens of interviews. And then I thought Coimbatore is not right place for me to.

Truly find a difference. And I decided I must move out. I started looking for jobs. And I applied for a job in Baba Atomic Research Center.

Mumbai most premium government institute. Research institute. And I got the interview letter and I boarded the train. So it was August 18, 1982. I think a day I will never Forget. Neither the S9 coach nor the birth number 41. And I am in Mumbai with 500 rupees in my body. And body means 100 rupees in each pocket. So that no one can pickpocket. And I land in VT Railway station. Like a dawn, no one to receive me, to.

Comfort me. Using a WhatsApp location in an Android phone. Those days no phones were. No mobiles were at all there.

Three nights I slept in VT railway platform. Very important.

Very important. Again success in life is delta. Delta is equal to x2 minus x1.

And my x1 was VT railway platform. If you can sleep in a railway platform, I don't think anybody can defeat you. So this is how the journey in Mumbai starts. The interview I was asked a question. Where is thyroid? And I was a Maths, Physics, Chemistry student. I didn't have biology. So obviously my answer was I don't know. And I want all of you to understand.

In 1982 I did not know where thyroid was. And in 1992 I finished a PhD in thyroid. And in 2002 I run World's largest thyroid testing laboratory. That also gives a message to entrepreneurs. What you studied or what you do need not be the same. If you do what you have studied, you will survive. But if you do what you have not studied, you will be the leader. Of course I studied. After joining in the job, my thyroid biochemistry, MSc and PhD made me very powerful. So that's the entry inside BRC. And.

Being a man from poor family, having a big family, I felt marrying a working wife would help me to live life with more stability. And working wife I can't import from Coimbatore. So I married a Bombay girl. She was working with State bank of India.

So we. My salary, Government of India salary, her salary, State bank salary. So two good salaries and two good salaries. So that's how life starts. And in Mumbai I was fortunate. I was getting an opportunity to do MSc and PhD. Because I was kind and nice to my bosses. And my boss has wanted to reciprocate. And very often people keep grumbling. My boss is bad. I don't have a. My father was poor, My father was illiterate. I am from village. I don't think any excuse is worth really to tell as an excuse. So I was fortunate to have two more degrees. MSc and PhD. And I also had two promotions.

Every five years government you get a promotion. And also I had two children. And I also had two lakh rupees closing balance. I want you all to understand. Today entrepreneurs feel. Today entrepreneurs feel that.

Somebody'S money will make you rich. Trust me, that time this 2 lakh rupees was almost equivalent to a crore. And I had 2 lakh rupees of provident fund. And my family was living frugal what money I had was sufficient for 40 months. Because my monthly expenditure was only 5,000. I'm talking about 1995. So no EMI. I had not bought a house. Fortunately.

So Velumani is free to start risking his life. Because in you can only risk you. You should not risk your family. And now my family is 40 months safe. So I am risking now. And since there is no Emi there is nothing pressure for me. More than anything else my wife works with State bank of India. Why you need two salaries. One is enough. So that's how I took the decision. Of course I didn't discuss with my wife.

To resign. Many of you feel or will think was it that simple? I think all my decisions I have taken without discussing with anyone. I left Coimbatore without discussing with my parents.

I married a Bombay girl without discussing with my mother. And I left a government job without discussing with my wife. So she got annoyed. And she also decided she will not go to office. And that was a setback for me. But I didn't change my decision. I keep telling I am a Salman Khan. I don't I once I decide I don't change my decisions. So that's how things were. And we both had. She started working with me. Of course. I want to explain you here. What was the her logic of supporting me? It's very rare to find a woman who.

Wipes out her identity to make sure her husband's identity is powerful. And she felt that leaving me alone may not be true success. Supporting me will be a certain success. So that's how she joined me. And in 1995 we start this business. And I knew only thyroid. Though I started only thyroid as my business. The tagline for Thyrocare in 1995 was all in thyroid and only thyroid.

So so far whatever you have learned is one is.

Frugality is most important. Otherwise this family could have not survived. And my wife was extremely frugal. She only spent very little for the family.

And made sure 70% of the income is saved. Which means frugality helps you to stand up. So that's number one. Number two, hard work, keep learning. Be nice to people. Accumulate degrees, accumulate knowledge. Until 37 I never thought I will do business. Only when I was 37 I thought I have enough knowledge and courage. Now I should venture in. The next one is focus on one thing. In 100 kilogram body. In 100 kilogram body I focused only on 15 gram plant. And today I am told you are the first man who built a brand around a gland. I Must tell you here, the power is the focus. Don't do everything. If you do one thing, you can do it everywhere. And if you do everything, you can do it in only one location. Otherwise McDonald's will not be in India. They are in India only because they only make burgers. This is very, very important. What to do? You have to choose and focus. Don't chase four rabbits together.

You may not catch any. You need to have one rabbit. So I think I have told you what is essential is frugality and knowledge, courage, decision making and of course focus.

And then you need to do a lot of innovations. I got into business and I have done a few innovations which you must.

Relate if you do business or you must keep in your mind when you start business. Don't do what your neighbor does. Don't do what your neighbor does. Otherwise you will become one more neighbor. I think vast majority of the audience is non Tamil. So I can tell couple of Hindi punchlines.

So what I did was I.

Found what medical people are doing and I felt I must study what non medical people are doing. And I am from Coimbatore. In Coimbatore there is a brand called annapurna where in 1970 itself the promoter had single kitchen and multiple restaurant. And he built a big business. So I thought why not laboratory testing where blood is collected is restaurants where blood is tested. His kitchen. Why not a single kitchen for 20 restaurants in Mumbai? It worked. Then why not Surat, Nasik, Pune? It worked. Why not Chandigarh, Kolkata, Madras? It worked. That means for a billion population I created a single laboratory. First time no 1 thought a pathology laboratory can do test for entire country. So that was something which I had. I didn't know I am doing. I kept on doing. Then I realized that yes, that's also possible. I don't think anyone can plan everything and do in Hindi there is a punchline. Nikol Pado, Rasta Apnaya.

So just get walking. You will find a way. So that's how this billion population single laboratory concept worked.

And Madarasi doing business in Odisha, Punjab and Bengal is not possible. So I found local men and I called them franchisees. And I told them look, market is charging 600 rupees.

You charge 300 rupees.

You give me 100 rupees, you keep 60% margin. Oh. He was shocked and he became unconscious. And he remained unconscious for 30 years. That powerful is the profit sharing. It's very important.

In Hindi.

So it's very important that we understand.

How much we should give and how much we should take. So I gave them a lot. Secondly, I also told very clearly to them processing is my job. Procuring is your job. Look at the clarity there. And it worked. There was no franchisee concept before I came to business in India. No one was doing any franchise. Franchise itself came only when McDonald came into country. People understood that it's franchise.

And also Everybody was charging 600. I. I thought I will charge 300 because I knew the reagent costs are low when you have volume. I want you people to understand the volume benefits. Had I done 100 test a month and it does then 100 test a month, the cost of reagent is 150. Had I done 100 a day it is 125. Had I done thousand a day it is 100. 10,000 a day is 75. I must tell you, I have done one lakh test a day which was one third of the retail reagent cost. Very important is costing.

Many people don't know how to calculate the cost of test. They only look peripherally. What is the employee cost cost, what is the floor cost? They do not understand what is the volume benefit. Guys, trust me. Be it Amazon, be it Gemato, be it any online retail business, everything works on value. Did you ever dreamt Jepto will come and deliver it to your home for 20 rupees 30 rupees. Also it is volume scale.

And if you have not put the right pricing scale.

So the pricing is very very important.

Also there is something unique. I did. Probably I didn't know I am doing. But afterwards only understood I have done it. The pathology has two segments.

One is.

Diseases, another is disorders. Diseases Come go disorders come. They don't go. I didn't touch diseases. Every day I have to acquire a new customer. I touched only disorders. Thyroid is a disorder. Diabetes is a disorder. Arthritis is a disorder. Half of the problems are disorders. Half of the problems are diseases. So all my competitors were in diseases. I was in disorder. All alone. As a king, I think if you walk again, I said don't do what the neighbor does because he will become one more neighbor. I also have done Uber Ola because until Uber Ola came into picture.

Taxis were standing for 20 hours running for 4 hours. Today taxis are running for 20 hours, standing for 4 hours. Until I came into picture, thyroid testing machines were used only for two hours in a day. Today they are used 20 hours 24 hours a day. I also have done Amazon. Until I came into picture, home services were available only for the Old and non ambulatory patients 5% in 25 years. When I exited, 95% of the patients got home service. And it was me who made an Amazon which delivered at your home every day, next morning 12 o' clock, if you order before previous night, 8 o'. Clock. So McDonald, I have done Amazon, I have done Uber, I have done. And I also have done Walmart. Because as I said, Walmart never makes profit from the customer, it makes from the vendor. And my pricing is purely on volume and volume.

Walmart's also purely on volume. So I've done a lot of innovations into this business. I introduced it into the very, very first web server in healthcare industry was mine in 1995. So I was an IT guy. There was no computer in my college, so I cannot, I cannot imagine how I managed it. I created my own IT solution and logistics. Those days the couriers were not in place, the air cargo was not in place. I mastered that. Otherwise samples will not come every night, same night, before midnight to the laboratory. Trust me, Blue Dot was slower and I was faster. So I can keep on telling lot of things, but these are all very essential for you to differentiate from the competition. And I was the first guy in this country who put a barcode on the test tube. So that barcode Mason itself reads, Mason itself does the test and as in itself reports. So it's fully automated. So I think I have done all essential without having an mba, without having an exposure to the so called business environment, without any kind of ex military city exposure. I think again village poverty made me to understand how to solve problems. A wonderful organization. What is great about the organization? I have employed 25000 freshers in that organization. And I have never employed an experienced man into my company because I believe I can create my own resources. And I created and compared to my competitors who had 25% manpower cost, I had only 11% manpower cast. So that's the power of freshers. Take freshers and train them. 100 days trained by you is equivalent to thousand days trained by the competition. So make sure that you take freshers, you train them, you pay them well, retain them, allow allow in in capable guys to go retain leaders. And out of 25000 employees I retained 2, 500 employees. So that's how HR I could master. I not only freshers, I employed poor. Because for poor job means life for them. For rich job means an upgradation of life. So I always felt who will work much longer, much loyally.

A company which has grown 25% year over year for 25 years. Full stop. That's the power of the journey.

A company in entire world India is cheapest. And in entire India I am the cheapest. And still I had 40% EBITA. I had more EBITDA than the guys who were charging double than me. We want to understand in the same industry Indigo is there. Air India is there. Indigo makes 5000 crore per annum profit. Whereas Air India loses 5000 crore per annum. So that's the what do you do is not as important as how do you do. So all went on well. And I never pitched for my investment. Because this company has never borrowed a single rupee from a bank. Nor I have personally borrowed a single rupee from bank. This company has not received a single rupee as equity inside the company. That's the power of the company. So everybody wanted the shares of the company. And the company didn't need money. So I went ahead and I accepted private equity partners by doing a secondary deal, not primary deal. And in the secondary deal money comes to me not to the company. And they did an IPO also with the secondary deal. So my IPY in 2016 got subscribed 75 times. A shock to me, a shock to the industry. And I lost my wife in that year 2016. When I got listed my company just 50 days before IPO. And as I said earlier, she sacrificed her identity to create me as a very powerful man. She was the one who taught me Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati. She was the one who made me MSc and PhD. And she was the one who really made this man. A scientist and entrepreneur. A storyteller. A very powerful lady. But unfortunately she went away. Because she had a pancreatic cancer. Grade four deducted. Too late. So that's the story. When Dr. Illumine reached the national stock exchange he again was alone. I didn't feel like running the company alone. So I waited till Covid came. And in Covid we did very well. The stock did very well. The company touched a billion dollar value. And somebody was interested in buying my company. They offered a rate which I demanded. And I exited. When I exited, the company had a billion dollar market cap. And I had 65% stock. So 650 million is what Dr. Velumani has received. For a man came to Mumbai with 500 rupees in his body. That's the story of how I have traveled, how I have journeyed. And I want to conclude my story with a punchline. If men are successful. If men are successful, families prosper. And if Women are successful, societies prosper. It was my mother, it was my wife whose success made the country to enjoy the benefits of low cost testing for pathology. Thank you very much for listening to me patiently. And I have given little more time for question and answers because otherwise my communication a lot is available in YouTube, couple of podcasts have gone 30 plus million views and I am of course available in Instagram. You people can hear and understand now that we are live. I would love to take questions live. Thank you very much.

Dr. Bailumani. Thank you.

You actually teared me up when you talked about.

The punchline when a man is successful versus what happens when you have women in your life are very powerful. So I was there with you at that time when you talked about your wife in the 2015 timeframe.

So that time, that time she was alive.

Yeah, yeah. But you told, you told about the illness. If I remember you told me about that, that and I think that's why you didn't come for 2017, the second year. So you know Om Shanti to her and she's here with all of us and everything that she has done to you that we could hear your story and it came directly from your heart. So Pranav to you. We have a few questions. You know people have this question, I think should we do a startup early in their life or should we work in some startup for experience?

What would you tell a young person who is inspired to hearing all these stories, especially yours today? Should they jump in or should they join a startup?

This is a very tough question because today's youth don't like me telling truth. But I am okay if they hate me. But the truth is.

Don'T start it too early.

One single fellow, Mark Zuckerberg has spoiled many people's life. That is one in a million success. If you start very early, success rate is very very low.

I am of that opinion. If you want truly succeed without much of distress.

You must first work for 10 years in a company.

Not in a startup, in a company where already 10 crore turnover is there and you join there and work for till it becomes 100 crores.

You will become a general manager. If you are having stuff in becoming a startup and then the 10th year you just resign and start your business. Because in the same line you are working and you are not learning using your father's money, father in law's money, you are using your employer salary to learn. So this is the safest way and trust me, once you only a good employee can become a good employer. I fortunately did not get an idea to do business before 37. I thank God for that. So if I am asked, please wait till you reach 30s. But sir, I have a great idea. I have money, my father is rich. Please start as soon as. Even while doing your degree. Who can stop you? This is my advice.

Wonderful, wonderful. Alicia, what other questions do we have?

You think you're on mute?

Okay, I will ask a question from one of her partners, Harish. He says, sir, when you started, you didn't have all the clarity to build the empire that you did. But how did you strive so clear and persistent in making your startup so successful and so big?

First and foremost, let me tell you, the word startup was not there. Word entrepreneur was not there. Word wise, what you call as vc, what is vc? Venture capitalist was not there. There was no pitching to do the itching. Sorry, there was no itching to do the pitching. I must tell you, it was a cool days. I fortunately those days there were no networking, there was no this kind of exposures, which means there was no distraction, number one. Number two, mind you, no education from no training from no one else. No other field can help you as much as your own business can teach you. It's live, you learn, make mistakes, make all mistakes, make them very fast. Don't repeat. And one of my punchline is if you repeat the same mistake every day, you will become a beggar. But if you do every day a new mistake, you will become a billionaire. So keep doing mistakes. Now doing mistakes is no crying. At the same time, I want the audience to understand there are four words. One is error. Mistake, failure. Blender.

Error you corrected by end of the month. Mistake you corrected by end of the quarter. Failure corrected by end of the year. Blender. You didn't collect correct at all. Please make all errors.

You have to, you have to fall to get up.

That's my input. Yeah.

Were you like this way even as a child? If you asked your mother, how was Dr. Velmani? Were you very, very good with your language and use of words and punch lines? Because this is just so easy to understand, yet so profound.

I think I had a comfort of playing with words even when my in my school days, college days only. The only thing is those days there was no audience, there was no mic and there was no stage. So it has got amplified. I think communication skills are very, very important. Storytelling is important. Be it Narendra Modi, be it Sadhguru, everybody is a storyteller and I am a storyteller. So you can lead.

Spiritual leader Only if you tell a story or a national leader only when you tell a story. Or if a corporate leader only when you tell a story. Please learn to tell stories. And if people are gathering around you when you tell the story, that means success is coming.

Very good.

Litmus test for your future.

Wonderful. Sir. There's another question somebody want because this, this whole series is about Amrit Kal mentors. Something that we encourage people to seek out for help. Who would you consider? One or two. Anyone that you consider as a mentor. You mentioned about your mother, about your wife. But any specific lessons that somebody gave you that was a big sort of pivotal moment.

I think fortunately I didn't have a mentor.

Why I tell this is mentors in business will not work.

Because very often I think this is the truth which no one is willing to acknowledge. There are only three kinds of people. One who talks but never walked.

And one who walks doesn't have time to talk.

And very rarely you will find a man who really walked and then talks and that's that mentor. And I am also not one to one mentor. I am a mass mentor. And I would love people who enjoy mass mentoring and deriving their own inferences for their business. So I discourage people don't have one man as mentor. Either he will become mental or you will become mental. Have dozens of mentors. Listen, I think I said in the beginning Suno Sabki means you do what is right. According to you. No one could truly mentor me. Naray went and asked for mentorship. Of course people around me. I have learned a lot that in that number one is my mother, number two is my wife. I think there are 10 people I can list from whom I have learned. Please learn from multiple people. Don't learn from one man.

You know, in, in. In my talks I talk about the honeybee. You know honeybee goes to multiple flowers and picks up honey. So like you guys like you correctly said learn from anyone who is around you. But. But like you know, like you beautifully said because you have to your. Your uniqueness. So I also appreciate the fact that look for people who are both walkers and talkers, not just one of the two. That's wonderful. There was a question because thyroke did something very repetitively so you kind of answered it about storytelling. How do you motivate your employees when you are only doing one thing over and over, over and over again? How do you keep your employees motivated especially when they're freshers. Any thoughts on employee motivation and excitement to be part of your journey?

The motivation Comes when you talk truth.

A leader should be transparent. There are three words. Trust, truth, transparent. In which first is truth? If there is no truth, there is no transparency. And if there is no transparency, there is no trust. And if these three are not, the customer is not with you, the employee is not with you, even the spouse is not with you. So very, very important is the truth of it. Number one. Number two, you can't motivate all 10% do not need motivation. They are already motivated. Remaining 40% need some motivation. You can motivate. And remaining 50% can never be motivated because there's such a negative approach in their life. So I had enough motivated people and I amplified the motivation by punchline. If you can make your employee to see the same goal which you see, then you don't have to work. They will work. That's the problem.

You probably inspired them because once, once you inspire someone, they will walk with you on their own energy. They will, they will, you know, use their weekends, evenings and weekends. You don't have to tell them. So I think there is the. In my book I talk about motivating versus inspiring. Motivate means you have to keep telling them. You'll get extra day off, you'll get this rupees more. But when you inspire them, they do things on their own. So we're very, very well said.

Let me tell you here what my mother taught me in the very beginning.

Yes, please, please. Yeah.

In Tamil it is.

Which means the cat which needs to be thrown and rats to catch rat. How many rat it can catch. If only the cat itself can catch a rat, it will lifelong catch the rats. Such a powerful communication, which I learned very early. I believe some employees are truly, truly inspired to become the leaders. Inspiration. If you don't get to give good food to your family, good life to your people, who else can come and inspire you?

I should live happy, I should live rich. My family should be comfortable. That itself should be sufficient enough motivation. So I believe motivation is by and large with, As I said, 10% of the people are extremely motivated. And if you don't take care of their motivation, they will go to your competition.

And there is a punchline. If you don't take care of an intelligent man by making him CEO, he will become the union leader.

So somebody is asking, you know, how do they improve their communication skills to be, to. To be a good storyteller? Any thoughts on that? Is it a skill you, you're born with?

I. I want to tell you, there was a lady called Karnam Malayswari who was a weightlifter. I think people who have white beard will only remember her name because if 30, 30 years back she did so I see lifted maybe around 12530 kilos. I don't think she lifted on the same day. So first day she must have started with 15kg and she must have added every week one more kilogram so that in two years period she will reach there. And that's how anything is storytelling. Also start with 4 people, 8 people, 16 people, 32 people. And my storytelling improved as an employer because my boys wanted some training I kept training very lucid, enjoyable. You know a good storyteller can make a huge impact. And then when I finished 20 years in my organization I had an auditorium which could handle 300 people.

Then I get onto the stage until 25 never until I think first event for me to get onto the stage was Sadhguru's event. I will never forget. So there's more punchline for startups. Don't come to limelight till you become successful. You can either come to limelight or you can be successful. You can't be both. So very powerful one please don't try to be too early to reach to the page 3 of Economic Times. Wait till 15 years. I didn't tell what is essential in business which is supposed to be the first point that is patience.

Business or entrepreneurship is not a 100 meter dash, it's a marathon race. Success should come only after 25 years of hard work. If success comes within two years, mind you within five years you are gone. Success is never a problem. Sustaining the success is the biggest problem. So have patience. And there is a punchline of mine which has gone very viral. Don't try to become a billionaire before you meet your father in law but you must become a billionaire before you meet your son in law. That very clearly tells have patience.

Wonderful. Wonderful. So beautiful. So there are so many questions. People are actually you know loving your, your punch lines, your you know, simple yet very, very profound advice. There are lots of questions about you know, starting a business. How do, how do you manage your time? So any final words of wisdom to young people? Many of our audience in this, in this, you know today and you know throughout this movement are all young Indians who are across in tier 2 tier 3 cities less like the one like the little boy like you were in Coimbatore. So what would you tell the you know, 500 million young Indians who are, who are so lucky to be on, on in. On the planet at this time.

Yeah. I want to tell only the four words which they must give in priority.

Be it they are in job or in business. Doing business is not the only way of success. There are good number of CEOs working for someone else. Someone else make income more than 95% of the businessman. So I would advise if you are doing well in a job, if you're happy in the job, please don't get distracted. Enjoy it. Number one so far, generally for the population who is at the age group of 20 to 25, my advice is have patience first. I think there is no other go. You have to go step by step. If your intelligence is there, you are little faster. If your hard work is there, you are little faster. Otherwise no one, no instant, no jepto happening in entrepreneurial success.

Number two, focus. I think you should decide what should you work on and make sure that you learn. And you learn means you have knowledge. And your knowledge means your courage and you know insights. And you know that thing better than anyone else. Please note there is nothing known as what is try to do.

It is how you do it different makes it right. So focus on it. Frugality is very, very important. Today's youth's biggest problem is a EMI before they complete their college gone. I think that is only to show to the neighbor that.

I don't think at an age 2025 you need to have that ego. Ignore the neighbor, don't try to impress the neighbor and be frugal. You will be very powerful. The next one is discipline. As I said, there are good number of people who started well, reached five years, very, very rightly. And then something happened that means they were not disciplined.

Which says you have to be focused on your business goals. Employees. There are only three people you need to be focused about. One is your customer, second one is your employee and third one is your distributor. In the same order and things will work. Put search on YouTube, alumini, thyrocare. You will have lot of videos in Hindi, English, Tamil and I have elaborated for 100 minutes each. On an average they have gone 20 million views each on an average. Please learn from there. It's a free MBA available content free from the mentor from the Rajinikanth of entrepreneurship. You have got a complete free content available. I wanted it not to be sold. That is why they are available and I will keep on doing it. I wish you all a wonderful future, wonderful tomorrow and happy 2025.

Thank you so much sir. Really, really, really enlightening, inspiring, touching and really appreciate your time. Today. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Bye.

Bye.

Bye.