Guidance for entrepreneurs – a prerequisite!

Hyderabad: If your design plan is perfect, you get the help that you need. If a design plan needs any deviation, a knowledge partner helps you.

Proper guidance for an entrepreneur who is seeking it is of utmost importance; there are very far and few who do offer it.

Of millions of proposals which are floated the only ones that can make it through succeed, so it is not just important to float the business proposal for an entrepreneur, but to understand the potential of their proposal to help in attracting investments. There are, however, very few who do offer guidance on the potential of an investment proposal.

Shubhraa Maheshwari, chairperson, FICCI Ladies Organisation(FLO), Hyderabad chapter; a chartered accountant herself and currently the Director, Bluestones Group of Companies, who served clients like Tirumala-Thirupati Devasthanams, Aarogyashree Healthcare Trust, National Highways, many NBFCs and 300 plus corporate, in an exclusive interview with The Hans India, said it is important to be financially prepared irrespective of our age, gender, education or living in a metro or rural area. "Learning how to manage our finances can be life-changing". She shared the process on how the FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) guides start-ups.

If somebody wants to begin a start-up, what advice would you give them?

The advice I would give them is every idea that you have carries a potential. Sometimes you would need validation from industry experts. The idea itself may not be successful in the long run. Hence, you should always approach an incubator who will listen to your idea, guide you and understand your thought process. Either they will help you modify the idea and pick a different direction from what you have in mind or they will promote your idea. There are two. Ideally the ways of a starting-up your venue is, you chalk out the design plan. If your design plan is perfect, you get the help that you need. If a design plan needs any deviation, a knowledge partner helps you.

How do you help a person to setup a start-up?

We have various tie-ups with incubators, like we have III-T wherein we give a lot of incubation support to a person who's wanting to get into business with respect to the due diligence of the idea of your business to build the end result.

We guide and also organise boot camps with the help of our knowledge partners; we send out applications to members. Interested members can enrol.

We've had boot camps in the last two years; we have helped members who have an idea and are wanting to get into the start-up industry go ahead with that. A complete team of experts from our knowledge partners guide the budding entrepreneur who wants to start a particular venture. That's how they progress.

What is the process if someone wants to approach this organisation?

Anybody can write to us on our email IDs or walk into the office, our administrative staff will connect us with whatever purpose the person has and we will give them proper guidance.

Do you help entrepreneurs get loans and investments?

This year the theme is financial literacy for women, and that I'm already in talks with a couple of banks, not just loans, but I'm also trying to ease the facilitation of loans for FLO entrepreneurs with at least one bank, if I can do so that would be of great help to FLO entrepreneurs. We are not going to be helping in any form in terms of any lapses or relaxations and would be duly diligent on our part from the bank's perspective as we respect the system, but we will help our entrepreneur get loans in a faster and a speedy manner.