Blogging from Bangalore - John Elkington
March 13th, 2007 - by 2point6billion.comFriend of 2point6billion, John Elkington, writes of his journey - meetings with fascinating entrepreneurs and innovative firms - in Bangalore…
It was something of whistlestop tour. I was in Bangalore/Bengaluru for the first time, having visited India for the first time in January 2006. Bangalore turned out to be rather different to Delhi and Mumbai, where my colleague Kavita Prakash-Mani and I found ourselves last time. And the reason I was in Bangalore? To take part in a 3-day session on the future of technology - particularly the future of sustainable mobility - out to 2027. Our host: the Shell GameChanger team.
“Most people go through life playing by rules other people wrote,” say the Shell GameChanger team (http://www.shell/com/home/Framework?siteId=gamechanger-en). “We believe some people can’t stop dreaming about how things could be better under a different set of rules. Once in a while, a dreamer succeeds against difficult odds to truly change the rules of the game on her own. However, often it takes a few things the dreamer doesn’t have to show that the idea will work. For lack of money, a few connections, and perhaps a bit of guidance, many great ideas never get off the ground. Shell GameChanger is designed to provide funds, introduce you to the right people, and perhaps provide some useful advice. We invest in radically novel, early stage ideas in the ‘energy and mobility’ industry to help you get them from your mind to ‘proof of concept.’”
But before the GameChanger session started, I managed to meet a number of really interesting people in the area. They included Rohini Nilekani and her team at Arghyam Trust (http://www.indiawaterportal.org/arghyam/), whose motto is ‘Enough Water, Safe Water … For All’; Svati Bhogle (CEO) and Mr Rajagopolan (Chairman) of TIDE (Technology Informatics Design Endeavour) and then the President and Chairman of United Breweries (http://www.theubgroup.com/), whose original Scottish genes were clear from some of the brands in the glass cases on the stairs up to their top-floor offices.
Later, I travelled out to Electronics City this morning, to see Kris Gopalakrishnan at the Infosys campus (http://www.infosys.com), where he is Chief Operating Officer. He was also one of the founders, alongside Nandan Nilekani, CEO, President and Managing Director. Nandan Nilekani co-chairs the Tomorrow’s Global Company Inquiry (http://www.tomorrowscompany.com/), where I’m a member of the Inquiry Team. I was enormously impressed by the Infosys combination of deeply-held values and towering ambitions. As N. R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman and Chief Mentor, put it when the company - founded in 1981 - celebrated its 25th anniversary last year: “A great corporation must live for hundreds of years. Hence, we are still babies. Even these initial baby-years have taught us several lessons. These lessons are valuable not just for our future journey but for other corporations in the country and, perhaps, the world.” He stressed, among other factors in the company’s success, “An enduring value system based on openness, honesty, integrity, meritocracy, fairness, transparency and excellence.”
Then across to Orb Energy (http://www.orbenergy.com/). Orb represents a large slice of a renewable energy unit that used to be run by Shell India, but spun out. Again, very impressed - though this really is a baby company. Interested to hear their plans for franchising, which will be useful background for the survey report we are just completing for The Skoll Foundation (http://www.sustainability.com/insight/skoll.asp). Returned to London keen to return to India as soon as possible, which is just as well - since SustainAbility has decided to work towards an Indian office over the next 3-4 years.
John Elkington is Founder & Chief Entrepreneur at SustainAbility (http://www.sustainability.com) and blogs at http://www.johnelkington.com
Photo: N.P. Ramesh (COO) and Damian Miller (CEO) of Orb
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