He is a man with different hues. He is spreading the light of knowledge to dispel the darkness of ignorance. He is filling the vacuum of the wanting society. He is a teacher, a guide, a philosopher, a sensitive professional. He is Dr Vivek Bindra, the man with a mission.   

An influential motivational speaker, a business coach par excellence, an expert on MSME businesses and a man with a vision to make management education affordable and accessible to all, Dr Vivek Bindra is the Founder & CEO of one of the fastest growing EdTech startups Bada Business. He is honoured with Doctorates from Royal American University, Boston in 2019 and  Open  International  University  for  Complementary  Medicines, Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2017.

A monk turned entrepreneur, Dr Bindra started his career as a corporate trainer and a human performance improvement expert and became a trusted Advisor to over 1,500 corporates. He first founded an organization called Global ACT in 2010 which worked as a corporate training partner with leading corporate houses. He was awarded as the “Best Corporate Trainer” by Maruti Suzuki, for three consecutive years. He also started a Flagship Leadership Development Program, Leadership Funnel -- a pioneering six month Training Program tailored to the needs of former, current and imminent entrepreneurs, businessmen and organizational leaders.

Towards New Goal

In 2019, Dr Bindra rechristened his organization into Bada Business Pvt. Ltd with a new model and goal. Behind this organization was a realization that business management education was available to only a select elite group of students despite millions of people having an entrepreneurial spark. The objective of Bada Business was to create an alternative business education model that would be affordable and accessible to everyone, so that even a boy from a lower middle class background in a small town can access it and learn valuable business management skills. Under this objective, Dr Bindra created a two year management program condensing into it the course materials of all leading global MBA institutions albeit in vernacular languages. The creation of content and delivery of lectures in vernacular and easy to speak language allows its reach to even the lowest common denominator. Bada Business also offers a series of other courses ranging from 2 months to 2 years to address multiple needs of entrepreneurs and wantrepreneurs.

Passion for MEMEs

Dr Bindra works closely with the MSME sector and helps small entrepreneurs with business skills and strategies to scale up their businesses. To help the Coronavirus hit Indian economy get back on its feet, Dr Bindra initiated a one of its kind movement called the 'Indian Revival Mission'. Under the movement, he has tirelessly conducted online business skill lessons to help millions of MSME owners tide over the crisis. Dr Bindra is also the owner of World's Most Subscribed Entrepreneurship YouTube Channel with 13.3Million Subscribers.  Through his motivational talks and empowering lessons on Business Strategies, Business Lessons and Leadership Development, he has touched the lives of  millions  of  people  across  the  globe  and helped them in  scaling  their  business goals.

Digital Platform

Dr.  Bindra  also  runs a  free  learning  digital  platform  where  anyone  can  learn  relevant  business   strategies,   leadership   techniques,   frameworks   for effective execution  of strategies, business expansion, building high performance teams and retaining the best talent. He has authored  10  High  Power  Motivational  Books  and  now  working  on  his  new  book  “Bounce Back”.

A recipient of more than 100 most globally admired awards, Dr. Bindra's recognitions include 'Game changer of the Year 2019' by Economic Times, 'Best Leadership Trainer in Asia' by Marshall Goldsmith at the World HRD Congress, 'Make in India Award 2019' by Bharat Nirman Foundation, 'Best CEO Coach in India' by Times of India – Speaking Tree.

SME WORLD in an email interaction with Dr. Vivek Bindra:

You are a leading business coach and mentor; what do you think about India's MSME sector which remains highly unorganised and disorganised?

The MSME sector is one of the mainstays of the Indian economy. With almost 30% contribution to GDP and almost 50% contribution to exports, the MSME sector is the backbone of our economy. It is also the second largest employment provider after agriculture. This sector is therefore crucial to India's goal of becoming a USD 5 trillion economy. Despite all this, the sector works under diminished potential due to a series of challenges and lack of adequate policy support. These challenges include low production capacity and low capital availability, lack of adequate banking finance, inadequate use of technology, abysmal digital presence and lack of availability of skilled labour. Of course the highly unorganized nature of the industry also presents a major challenge in making government policy help reach the last enterprise. Another major challenge is lack of sufficient knowledge for scaling up and upgrading as a result of which many promising businesses fail to grow beyond a family owned set up. This is the gap that Bada Business is trying to fill by providing business skill knowledge to small enterprise owners.

What ails the Indian MSMEs sector?

As mentioned above, the Indian MSME sector largely comprises of very small micro enterprises which are run by just 1-4 people. Lack of knowledge and adequate business skills is a major problem that prevents a large number of such enterprises from scaling up. Adequate banking finance and Government policies fail to reach a large number of such enterprises because they are either not registered or do not have adequate knowledge.

It is believed that the MSMEs (which include SMEs) are the spine of economies round the globe and are pipelines to the corporates; yet the scenario in India is hopeless. The MSME sector is given a raw treatment and the schemes floated for MSMEs remain on paper. Comment!

To be fair, the Government has taken due note of the MSME sector and launched several policies to help it. Schemes such as Credit Linked Capital Subsidy and Technology Upgradation Scheme (CLCS-TUS), Micro and Small Enterprises - Cluster Development Programme, Procurement and Marketing Support and support for MSMEs to participate in International exhibitions, trade fairs and forums have been initiated. However, the problem lies in ensuring that the benefit of such initiatives reaches the last enterprise on the ground. Lack of a formal sector implies that many schemes floated for the sector stay on the paper. A large majority of MSMEs are the micro players which do not have the experience or wherewithal to be able to effectively use bank finance or promote their products effectively. They do not even have the resources to process GST properly. Additionally, there remains a major void when it comes to sanction and disbursal of loans.

Even as the contribution of MSMEs to GDP and exports is sizeable, every Government that has been in power has miserably failed to recognise this fact and think of practical ways and means to boost the sector to bring it in the mainstream. What makes the sector rest on the back foot?

Lack of adequate business skills and knowledge is a major gap that needs to be addressed to enable MSME owners scale up their businesses and grab a pie of government schemes and banking funds. Skilling of labour and improving ease of starting businesses are other requisites.

The Public Procurement Policy (PPP) was announced with great enthusiasm to provide the much needed marketing impetus but the policy could not be implemented in its letter and spirit. Comment!

The Public Procurement Policy for Micro and Small Enterprises (MSMEs) 2006 mandated 20% (now raised to 25%) purchases or procurement by every Central Ministry, Govt Department or PSUs to be from SMEs. Further, an additional 3 per cent from within this target was to be earmarked for procurement from Women owned MSMEs and 4% from SMEs owned by SC/ST entrepreneurs. The policy was a highly welcome initiative to address long standing disadvantages that small entrepreneurs face including lack of market access and competitive challenges with the large scale sector.

Unfortunately, like most policies this initiative too has failed to live up to its expectations due to several challenges. Some of these include entry barriers laid down by government entities for procurement processes such as eligibility clauses, minimum turnover limits and number of orders previously executed etc. Small and new enterprises fail to meet such entry barriers and this favours the “creamy layer” of MSMEs. Other obstacles include the challenging process of tendering, inadequate buyer seller interactions etc.

In the Indian MSME sector, the prime constituent is the Micro enterprises which include street vendors, household shops, rehriwallas etc. Sadly, micro entrepreneurs are most neglected and remain at the mercy of inspectors – municipal and police. What should be done to bring dignity to this important component of MSMEs?

Well, we need to completely change the policy perspective as well as perception vis a vis micro enterprises and self employed individuals. Ease of starting business and ease of doing business are terms that must apply to such micro enterprises also. It is important to bring some sort of organization into this sector, create amenable marketspaces for them, and give them access to more buyers.

Covid-19 has resulted in a huge set back to the MSMEs sector. Thousands of small entrepreneurs especially working from rented places have either shut down or on the brink of near bankruptcy. What should be done to revive them?

The sector needs an immediate inflow of funds. Unfortunately, the Government announcements of banking fund support either doesn't reach all needy enterprises or takes an inordinate time. It would be better to help the sector by announcing tax concessions and reducing GST for the remaining part of the year. It is also important to radically change the process of starting business and ensure a single window clearance so that people looking to start an enterprise do not have an uphill task. Making digital upgradation tools and technological knowhow available to MSMEs is also important at this time of 'contactless' businesses. Similarly, a very critical element is imparting of crucial business skills to help small businesses tide over the crisis.

Most of the MSMEs have not drawn any contingency plans to survive in emergencies/calamities – mostly natural; what should be done to afford them shock absorbers to withstand such situations?

The COVID crisis has educated us about the need to have a shock absorber mechanism for India's small enterprise sector. The Government must consider it as a learning and put in place a series of policy protocols and organizations to act fast to help the MSME sector in such crisis situations.

Kindly explain 'Bada Business', its agenda and vision.

Bada Business is an EdTech startup launched in 2019 with an objective of helping small scale enterprises scale up their businesses and grow. The startup was founded with an objective to fill the void of business skill training for small enterprises as well as for young students and wantepreneurs who need business training to start their own entrepreneurial ventures. The Edu Tech platform offers a series of digital business learning courses ranging from 2 months to 2 years. The courses are created specifically to help SMEs and MSMEs find solutions to the burning problems of their businesses in an easy and most practical way using Framework, Case-Studies and proven techniques which are relevant to the Indian market. Similarly, students and young wantepreneurs can get significant help in starting businesses after studying undergoing our business training. While much is talked about the need for ease of doing business, not much is discussed about the need to equip young people with the skills needed to start businesses.  Lack of business skills, knowledge and training is a major void that needs to be filled if we want to engineer a major entrepreneurial revolution in India. When we impart business training and skills to thousands of youngsters, they are bound to unleash a new entrepreneurial energy which will eventually contribute to generating employment and more GDP in the country. By simplifying curriculum of management courses and offering the same to entrepreneurs and wantepreneurs in their own language and at highly affordable costs, Bada Business has served to create an alternative management education system for thousands of people who cannot afford or access formal management education. Bada Business has also partnered 75 top business leaders of different sectors and industries and brought them on board as 'Professors'.

At Bada Business, our vision is to arm India's MSME sector with the requisite knowledge, skills and hand holding solutions so that they grow into larger enterprises and contribute to the rapid growth of the Indian economy.