Self belief is key to success for young entrepreneurs, says top Indian banker

The Chairman and Managing Director of the Central Bank of India (CBI) has said that spirit and drive are crucial attributes for young businessmen and women who are striving for success.

In preparing for “tomorrow’s world, young people must have self belief if they are to go out and successfully do something on their own,” said Srinivasan Sridhar.

“We also live in a world which feeds off knowledge, and so it is essential that today’s youth constantly learn in order to build up a strong skill set.”

Mr Sridhar was speaking to Commonwealth News in London on 29 October, at the tail-end of his one-day visit to the Commonwealth Secretariat’s headquarters. During the day, back-to-back meetings were held with senior officials from the Secretariat, in which a broad range of projects were discussed.

The areas of collaboration between the Secretariat and the CBI which were discussed include:

· The CBI-Commonwealth Youth Enterprise Financing Programme. For this joint initiative, the CBI is offering concessional loan rates to around 1,500 young people from four districts in India for enterprise development activities. The Secretariat will complement the Central Bank’s funding by providing capacity-building to ensure entrepreneurs develop sufficient capacity in running sustainable small enterprises. Mr Sridhar believes this initiative will lead to a “holistic chain” as the successful youth from this scheme will, in turn, employ others so that more and more young people will gain employment and develop skills over time.

· Secondment of a CBI officer to the Secretariat. This officer will work on projects which build the capacity of youth owned and operated businesses. The selection process is in its final phase, and the seconded officer should take up the post in February 2011.

· The Commonwealth-India Small Business Competitiveness Development Programme. The programme looks at how the small enterprises eco system across the Commonwealth can become increasingly competitive. This aim is realised through a series of capacity-building programmes, which has run since November 2004, where small businesses are exposed to good practice and success stories by hearing first-hand experiences from renowned entrepreneurs and policy-makers. Mr Sridhar sees three benefits to this programme: i) it is a “tremendous opportunity for small businessmen and women to network and hear about the problems and opportunities other companies come up against.” ii) Participants are exposed to “a galaxy of expert speakers who have a vast experience.” iii) “When the participants go on field visits to Indian companies, they have the opportunity to learn from the successes of others.” The eleventh programme in the series will take place in Chandigarh, India, between 13-19 February 2011.

· Assisting Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Jamaica. The CBI is sending two experts, free of charge, to help the Government of Jamaica implement a framework which helps small business financing in the country.

· The CBI has agreed to fund a publication, which will focus on the transformative impact of the Commonwealth. This book will be launched at the 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth, Australia by Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma, and the Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.

The CBI is one of India’s largest government-owned commercial banks. CBI, which has an annual balance sheet of US$65 billion, has been focusing on financing the development of micro, small and medium enterprises and provides rural enterprises with growth opportunities through innovative financing mechanisms.

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