Ronnie Screwvala reveals the secret of his success

Ronnie Screwvala founder Unilazer VenturesHe started a toothbrushmanufacturing business with a machine that was on its way to the scrap yard He brought the concept of cable television to India at a time when people hardly knew how to use a remote control He started UTV Software Communications mdash a television company with a meagre capital of a R37500 and landed a deal with Rupert Murdoch of News Corp He came up with the first Hindi daily soap that went on to become a milestone in the history and evolution of television industryRonnie Screwvala at his office in Worli PicSuresh KKHe launched the first Hindi channel for kids and young adults that became so popular that Disney came calling And he made a foray into the film industry as an outsider and went on to produce some of the biggest box office hits of the decade Rohinton Ronnie Screwvala is a man of many firsts and a man who has entrepreneurship embedded in his DNAFirst generation entrepreneurHe vehemently refuses to believe that some special talent is responsible for his success I dont believe in any kind of Xfactor I am a firstgeneration entrepreneur I came from a lowermiddle class family where everyone had 9 to 5 jobs All I had was the clarity of thought and confidence My initial failures as well as my theatre days helped me gain perspective says Screwvala However he quickly adds Not everyone is cut out to become an entrepreneur You dont have to be born with it but you need to really want itMorning shows the dayWhen still in school he would gather all the kids of his building and organise what he calls playcumconcerts Handbills would be circulated in the locality inviting audiences And of course the entertainment came with a price tag He remembers earning his first buck by organising such a performance when he was merely 10 years old He would soon graduate to more innovative venturesmdashlike collecting money to let people in their verandah to watch the stars gathered in the cinema hall next to their house Ask him about these initial entrepreneurial ventures and he laughs When you look back and reflect on these now it seems I always had this keeda in me to become an entrepreneur However trust me at that point in time I did them just for funAll glory is fleetingIn 2008 Esquire named him among the 75 most influential people of the 21st century and a year after Time magazine put him on it list of 100 most influential people However to Screwvala these are merely tags Of course you feel good when you receive such honours But does it really change anything Moreover by the time a recognition comes I have already moved on to a different project and I dont like looking back says the entertainment czar who after stepping down as Managing Director of Disney UTVDisney acquired UTV in 2012 and turned his attention towards Unilazer Ventures Pvt Ltd a private equity firm that invests in startupsHowever inbetween cementing the base of this newly launched company Screwvala also wrote a book in his free time mdash Dream With Your Eyes Open Published by Rupa Publication it is an autobiography of sorts aimed to inspire young entrepreneursIn the book he talks about his first failure which was quite literal Always a good student Screwvala had flunked his first year BCom exams Reason Over confidence It was a huge blow but he not only reappeared for the exams and came out with flying colours but also learnt a lesson he never forgotmdashAll glory is fleeting And since that day Screwvala who is credited with many first in the entertainment industry has never let success get into his head Nor has he let failures stop him Failure only meant I had to try harder and not that I had to retreat he says The serial entrepreneurIt is a tag that makes Screwvala extremely uncomfortable It is not like dabbling in nonrelated industries like salt and steel All my ventures have been in the same industry apart from of course the toothbrush manufacturing one All I have done is just taken the next logical step he says From television that next step was the movies And UTV Motion Pictures was born However what Screwvala initially didnt take into account that they will be the outsiders in the industry swarming with veterans We realised that we had to do something different from what everyone was already doing and doing so well We would have failed if we would have thought of competing with a Yash Chopra or a Karan Johar Although Chalte Chalte was still a formula movie we followed it up with Swades Lakshya Rang De Basantimdasheach a breakout movie It was a chart we wantedWhile the company was not hesitant to put its money on the edgy tremblingon thebrinkofbizarre DevD it took up the simple story of Khosla ka Ghosla with equal enthusiasm Khosla ka Ghosla was a story many of us had lived and all of us can identify with People go to movies for all the song and dance but they also go to see their stories However Screwvala was always sure of one thing mdash the movie had to resonate with the audiance and make money At the end of the day you have to keep in mind that you are doing commerce and not arts he points outYou wake up with an ideaHow does he manage to come up with such pioneering ideas You can wake up in the morning with a new idea If you are pioneering something you cant do much research before starting it The research part comes after you have launched the business in order to finetune it But at the end of the day you have to size up the market and go with your gut feeling And by gut feeling I mean an evolved thought process based on the sum total ofyour experiencesNew frontiersAnd today armed with this gut feeling he is poised to take some huge steps in sectors as diverse as education sports and digital media USport UEd and UDigital are his three new babies But why this tectonic shift I had built a production house from scratch and worked on it for twenty long years It would have been an insult to my intelligence if I would have stuck to the same industry after leaving Disney UTVIt will prove that I have no fresh ideas and cant think beyond media Every new venture is difficult in the beginning You can say I get a kick from the difficulty level of a project says Screwvala And the last sentence explains his CVWhile UDigital provides digital brand services including multigenre and multilingual content UEd is focussing on providing online postgraduation and specialisations which have a demand but is still not available in the country The company plans to tie up with government universities and apart from providing the technology will also create content for the courses On the other hand USport already owns UMumbamdashthe team that grabbed many eyeballs in the last Pro Kabaddi LeagueKabaddi will be phenomenal in India although it is football that will become the international sport eventually prophesies Screwvala whose company has big plans for football which he is reluctant to divulgeThe company is also looking a mobile sports mdash the bikerelated ones to be precise Again an uncharted territory in India More bikes are sold in India that anywhere else in the world We are going to combine tourism with sports With bikes you can go to the most exotic of locations such as Ladakh Diu Pondicherry It will boost the tourism industry of these places as well Also imagine watching a sport on television with such scenic backgrounds These are all fun and disruptive things I am doing why would I even think of going back to media he smilesThe other sideHowever not every venture he takes up is with the aim to make money and Swades Foundation which is today working in six blocks of Raigad mdash is the other side of this astute businessman It is an execution foundation working in rural Mahrashtra to provide water sanitation education and livelihood The aim is to elevate one million people from poverty every five to six years And we are already into our third year of the first cycle says Screwvala who believe is leading from the front and makes frequent trips to Raigad mdash the base camp for all the activities of the foundationAnd indeed it is quite different from doling out instruction or taking crucial business decisions sitting in an airconditioned office ensconced in greenery It is rough and tough It is 20 times more challenging than figuring out how to launch a cable TV network or produce a movie he agrees But it is not the heat and dust he is referring to Our main challenge is to build trust among the local community and educate them We want the farmers to have a second crop we want all expectant mothers to deliver their child in a hospitalhellipbut it is not easy to convince them says Screwvala Then easy things hardyinterests this man