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December - 2015 - Special issue > Entrepreneur of the Year: 2015

Shrigovind Tiwari: Winning Hearts with Ethical Business Values

si Team
Monday, December 28, 2015
si Team
In this materialistic world, making money is now of utmost importance to any business trumping everything else along the way. Though, it may bring short-term success to an organization; in the long run it has to face consequences as creating value takes a backseat. The very thought of staying focused on your ideologies, let alone walking the path when you have just lost a high paying job and have debt encumbrances with no financial backup, is quite daunting.

But, as it is believed, with ironclad determination, one can touch the sky. Shrigovind Tiwari, Founder & CEO, Exceptionaire Technologies is one such example. He attributes his success to his parents, especially his father whom he considers his mentor. When his previous employer abruptly shut down the company, being the CEO then, he bore the brunt & decided to take the plunge and start out on his own rather than taking another a fat salaried job. With US as his primary target market, his strong determination coupled with a sharp business acumen got him cracking and earned him advance payments from brand new customers that he had acquired in less than a week which paid for the initial office setup. All this within 10 days of losing his last job.

A Well-Fought Battle
Shrigovind was heading a technology company without background in technology. He expounds, "I started a software company and I did not know how the development process worked. Genuinely I was not eligible to identify the right technology talent. I had to rely on people to make that happen because I never had a founding partner that I could blindly trust".

Despite being devoid of requisite funding and technical expertise, business not only survived but also flourished as he always put value-creation and ethical business practices over money-making which sanctioned the business to not only retain customers, but also to get referred thereby swelling the customer base. "We bagged some pretty big brands who are now our esteemed customers. And, it is because of our customers that we have been able to come this far. I was always focused on creating value that getting more business," quips Shrigovind.

Shrigovind believes that if India has to claim its reign in the startup ecosystem, it has to create value and entrepreneurs have to set examples for others to follow. Learning from his mistakes, he reminisces, "The market is great but there is still a lot of uncertainty. If I had more influx of investment, I would have more options to choose from. In this highly dynamic ecosystem almost every company is in start-up mode & could falter if right investments are not made at the right time. Even if you have funds and resources, you can't just look at growing perpetually by compromising on quality & commitments being made to your customers which is a common problem as companies outgrow themselves. Now I think that I could have taken more perilous decisions but I opted for longevity. I always wanted to transcend commitments I made to my customers and that is where virtue outshines money".

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