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Kiran R Maher

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Kiran R Maher

Enterpreneur

Brief description about me

Born June 1974 in Porbandar, Gujarat, town where Gandhi was born. We moved to the UK when I was 1year old due to the war in Uganda and the Idi Amin British colonial regiment. I started my first paid job at the age of 12years as a paperboy, by the time I was 17years I had worked for most of the businesses in my neighborhood and that is the age I was inspired in doing business. Thank fully my bosses became good friends as the years went by and so I had learned many new tricks of the trade which has helped me till today. I now live in the UK and USA, my business is to help small businesses develop their company and brands on a global level, totaling a turnover of over $20million. I will be attending the Vibrant Gujarat exhibition in January 2013 to identify new products and meet entrepreneurs to discuss International business.

Important Career Decisions

Making decisions as a CEO is what this position is all about. Every decision however, does not carry the same weight. Many are routine; some are significant. A few are rare and a few are momentous. The decisions determine not only the trajectory of my firm for years to come, but also, most likely, define my career and establish the legacy.

Degree that matters

It is always important to have a degree or good educational qualifications for any individual wanting to build a career in a particular field. But for entrepreneurs, the best qualification to have is the drive to succeed. I started my first business as a teenager, so entrepreneurship, particularly in young people, has always been something close to me. Going into business for yourself is a really exciting and rewarding career option, especially in tough economic times like today.

Prospective toward freshers

The fresh graduate would have the "book knowledge" for the position required and the company can "mold" the graduate to the systems requirements. It is a catch 22. There are ways to gain experience, but you have to get creative and be flexible about the route to your target job. Never stop networking. It costs a lot to hire and train 'fresh' employees. Seasoned professionals can hit the ground running and that does not cost the company nearly as much.

Strongest skills

Any successful business person will tell that the key to their success was through the development of certain skills. These skills are what enable us to adapt to different situations, work as a team, and get the job done right. They are aptly labeled people skills,team skills, and leadership skills. There are numerous skill assessments out there that can help identify the areas in which you are the strongest; however, if you know yourself and your personality, you can probably figure it out on your own.
People skills are those skills which allow you to work well with others. If you are a social or relationship oriented person, more than likely you are strong in this area. I am always willing to collaborate on projects and share ideas while maintaining an open mind. This ties in closely with my team skills. I am willing and able to work as a group to get the job done. On the other hand, some prefer working alone and do not enjoy sharing ideas, people and team skills are probably not there strongest areas. Leadership skills are an invaluable tool in the business world. Being willing to step up to the plate and take on more responsibility shows those in authority that you have initiative. A leader is someone who is able to make the decisions and lead the group to success. They know when to take risks and when to hold back. While strong leadership skills are good to develop, not everyone was meant to lead. A successful leader has a strong support team behind them. While each of these skills is important, no one is perfect in every area. Recognizing areas of strength and weakness are the first steps toward to success. When I understand the areas that I can excel in, I can use them to my benefit. On the flip side, knowing the areas I lack shows the ways that we can improve. It is blending together of these skills that makes a team, and a business, successful.

My Role Model

Richard Branson - It is his extraordinary abilities as an entrepreneur, adventurer, futurist, environmentalist, and philanthropist that makes mega-billionaire Sir Richard Branson such a great role model for modern men.
Entrepreneur – Founder of the Virgin Group which is made up of more than 400 companies in the music, communication, beverage, and transportation industries.
Adventurer – Branson has traveled the world by air and sea on some of the most exciting, record-breaking adventures ever documented. He is one man who is living his life to the fullest and taking risks that lead to fulfilling experiences and achievements.
Environmentalist – Branson’s efforts to help rid the world of the “greenhouse effect” has led him to be one of the most respected environmental leaders who is working to keep our planet clean and safe for generations to come.
Humanitarian – He has campaigned for the end of nuclear weapons worldwide, worked to end the genocide in Darfur, built schools in Africa and has helped tens of thousands of people worldwide through his efforts, donations and fundraising.

Upcoming Trends

The western part of the world where most of my business is done, keeping a float is the key for the next few years for most businesses, starting by reducing unnecessary overheads. My business however is driven by the recession and that’s how I have structured it for the next 2years to come.

My goal

In this day and age of rapid economic and technological developments, and regulatory changes, planning anything for more than 3 years is fraught with danger. It is very likely that your idea of 'tomorrow' will change before 'tomorrow' actually arrives, hence your focus should be on immediate to mid foreseeable future. Anything more than that should be ambitions or rather aspirations that would keep you going. In my opinion anything more than a 5 year plan should be strictly at a very high level (philosophical) in nature. For example don't aim at becoming a CFO, rather target a management position that is equivalent of a CFO position.

Given this, your focus should be on how good your competencies are in the present day and how you may further improve them. What kind of initiatives you'd take to enhance your skill set that would allow you to take on a wider range of responsibilities and bring you closer to your long term professional targets.

Obviously, if you are already in a senior position and have developed expertise in specific field/area then your professional goals will not be as vague as above and you would have a very good idea on what exactly needs to be done to get to the next level. For example a typical commercial manager can progress further in the field by acquiring a law degree, and hence a 5 year objective. Similarly a doctor is pretty much stuck in the profession of medicine and economic, technological and/or regulatory dynamics does not add significant level of ambiguity in their career progression. A doctor would exactly know what additional qualifications/experience is required to gain the expertise that would push them to the next step

My family background

I am one of three children, married with two children. Father died in 1997. My mother aged 66 is retired and enjoys her retirement in the UK, US and India.

Advice from elders

I always maintain respect for the elders……as I say, as they growing older, we are merely growing up !!. I have been privileged to be friends with some elders in business, and have been able to learn from their mistakes and success stories. Advice, knowledge, experience from an elder should never go to waste.

My achievements

My greatest achievement in life has been the people around me in my business and in my personal life. Contacts, relationships are the biggest asset anyone can achieve.

Advice to young minds

My advice to young people is to find yourself, learn to ask questions, and then attempt to answer the most important questions you can find relentlessly for the rest of your life.
My senior year of high school I asked as many adults as I could for the single, best piece of advice they could give to a young man just about to enter the real world. I probably asked around 30 or 40 adults this question, and I never met one who had an answer ready. They all had to stop and think about it. Most of them acted like that was the first time anyone ever asked them to sum up what they’d learned in life.

My opinion towards India technical developments

Having spent time in India and then spent the last decade in the US and UK, there has been one big takeaway for me - and that's the importance of role models.

First, it's not true that India has not created tech giants. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has a market cap of ~$50B and Infosys (INFY) has a market cap of ~$25B - which is easily more than Twitter's value today. But, they are known for tech services, not necessarily for tech products.

And that's an important distinction. During my high school, my classmates and I looked up to Infosys founder Narayan Murthy as a role model - we dreamed of building tech services that could serve multinational companies. Role models like Mr. Murthy have inspired a lot of service-based companies that have done really, really well.

Having spent many years in the US/UK, , I got a chance to meet (or hear from) some incredible founders like Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and so on. They've built consumer products that are used by people around the world. The newspapers/magazines are filled with stories of such founders and more. Going to the same college or having an office space just blocks away from these people brings you much closer to their stories.

I don’t buy the culture argument one bit. A lot of Indians are smart, and they'll play a big role in tomorrow's innovations. I will be traveling to India in the month of January 2013 with the UK Trade Investment team, searching for young companies looking to go global. I am hoping to meet young talent that will help develop collaboration with my firm and other UK companies joining me.