Suhas Gopinath
An entrepreneur at 14, founder of Global Solutions Inc.
He lowered the bar for ‘young’ achievers, when at the age of 14 he started his company, Global Solutions Inc. Today, at 20, he has set high standards for India’s up and coming, raring-to-go entrepreneurs.
Youngsters must work together sans barriers. When I went to Islamabad, I delivered a lecture to 1,000 students. Other speakers were 40-45 years old, and I was 20. The students were so responsive; there were no barriers between us at all.
Never be arrogant and never underestimate anyone. I was nervous before delivering my first lecture at IIM Ahmedabad… the students were older to me. But they listened to me patiently and had no ego hassles. I had a misconceptions about them. I even asked them for suggestions to improve the organization and my managerial skills.
Be humble. When I met Bill Gates some years ago and we spoke for a few minutes, I never expected him to be so humble. He said, ‘ I started my company at 20, you started yours at 14, I should be afraid of you!’
Be involved and sincere. When I met the president, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, it was because my visa application had been rejected and I had to go to the Young Leaders’ conference in Islamabad. I felt like I was speaking to my teacher; not the president. He said that he would look into the flaws in our education system, and that we must start a single-window entrepreneurship cell.
Be considerate. The president also said that we should have a school management system by which an SMS would go to parents if their child bunked school. He said that this would be more advisable than have the teacher call out to the defaulter and embarrass him / her in front of everyone.
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