Coffee with B Ramalinga Raju

Being a part of the Video Podcasting Team of Connect 2008 Event I got an opportunity to interview Mr. B Ramalinga Raju, Chairman & Founder of Satyam Computer Services Ltd.

About Connect 2008: CONNECT is India’s Premier ICT Event, a joint initiative between Ministry of Communications & Information Technology-Government of India, Government of Tamil Nadu and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Over the years CONNECT has emerged to be an important international event in ICT industry.CONNECT 2008, the 8th edition of India’s premier ICT event, will be held at Chennai Trade Centre, Nandambakkam. For more information visit http://connect2008.in/

Coffee with Raju

It was a dream coming true that I was sitting on a Hot Seat just facing the Sizzling Hot Seat of one of the most prominent personalities in the corporate world Mr. B Ramalinga Raju, Chairman & Founder, Satyam Computer Services Ltd. Raju is a world renowned visionary, global business leader and thinker. The thrilling and exciting part was the Q&A session in which I got the opportunity to post questions against him.

I always wonder that how the breeds of entrepreneurs like Raju are able to built MNCs from scratch. So I posted first question to Raju

Me: What things driven you to build a company worth more than 2 billion dollar from scratch?
Raju: Emergence of knowledge economy has provided us the opportunities. Having 50000 associates in the company is incidental. More important is the opportunity that presents itself to us. It speaks the commitment of colleagues. It also speaks the fundamental changes that have happened in the economy landscape. Knowledge has come to much greater role. The world economy is more than 70% of its GDP resting in services holds great promise.

Me: Satyam is known to be an IT Service Provider company and you talked about Innovation & Research during your speech. How do you look “Research & Innovation” from the window of Satyam?
Raju: Innovation is nothing new to the industry and so as the case with Satyam. Generally one looks at the innovation in a very narrow perspective. One for given reasons tends to attach innovation to products. Whereas Service industry flourishes in India on account of innovation it could apply to processes & business models. I believe the next wave of value creation would be primarily driven by leadership and innovation.

Me: As an entrepreneur what is the biggest mistake you have done and what lessons have you learnt from it?
Raju: This is one of the toughest questions to answer. As an entrepreneur many of us don’t make single mistake but we make multiple mistakes and sometimes the mistakes are recognized post facto because the environment have changed may have taught you lessons.
For example in 1995 we established Satyam Infoway because we believed that internet is going to emerge and will make a huge difference not only for the common public but also for us as a company. We believed it as an integral part of providing services. But in 2000 when the dotcom bubble burst we have recognized that diversion has taken place. What we believed as an integral part of our operations was no longer seen as meshing and coming together.
Similarly at one time we wanted to be in core product development but then we moved out of it.

Me: What you do to communicate with people since being in office having access to limited number of people? Do you blog?
Raju (with a smile): No. I don’t blog but I do actively participate in interactions with my colleagues. One of the most wonderful platforms that we have within our organization is the Satyam Learning World and there are many initiatives within that. One of the most prominent ones is Satyam School of Leadership. I am quite proud to say that last year the American society of training and development has rated it as 15th best in the world and this year we were rated as 5th best in the world and it’s all about communication, about learning, it’s about people coming together and sharing a common objective.

Me: A concluding statement from your side for the Indian Youth.
Raju: The greatest asset our country has without any doubt is the Human Resource and the demographic advantage that India has with the median age of India being 26 years and surprisingly to me the median age of Japan is 42 years so India is almost a generation younger. So in that sense the future of India rests with Young Indians and I think young Indians are today much more confident, informed and ambitious. I think these are all very positive qualities so I have more to learn from them than what I can tell them.

Me: Thanks a lot Mr. Raju for joining us and answering our queries.
Raju: Thanks a lot.

Note: To watch this interview online visit http://blip.tv/ and search for Video Podcast with Mr. B Ramalinga Raju by Noor Salam Khan