Kind Capitalism

Shark Tank is a world-popular franchise that connects emerging entrepreneurs with investors to help them gain capital for their business in exchange for equity. This world popular show has been recently conceptualized and released for India and being telecast on Sony Entertainment Television. As I have been an active follower of the global franchise, no wonder it attracted me towards its Indian version. I have been a watcher of the show since its beginning. While I liked innumerable pitches in the show, the one that stayed with me, and I'm sure with you if you watched it, is the one pitch by the owner of KG Agrotech.

Kamlesh, a farmer's son and the owner of the company, comes from a village near Malegaon, Maharashtra with his friend-cum-assistant Naru. He has a simple invention. A bike that helps farmers spray liquid pesticides. Kamlesh claims that it solves the major problem of farmers lifting a heavy weight of pesticides on their back and work in their fields. While he pitches his idea and even after appreciating his efforts, sharks, one-by-one, started to give their opinion on why they are backing out from investing, you could see Kamlesh's eyes getting moist.

But the sharks are not wrong on their part. KG Agrotech is not even a company. Although Kamlesh has received significant amount of popularity through the video that Naru had filmed and shared across social media--Kamlesh also claimed that video was seen by 65 lakh people on Facebook--and regional news publications covering his work and publishing through YouTube, he is failed to sell a single piece of his invention. Sharks appreciated his efforts to produce something against all odds and coming to them for investment. But, according to them, it was not investible, and it needed crowd funding and government aid more than investment.

Except, Peyush Bansal, the founder of Lenskart. After a few questions where he asked Kamlesh how is he feeling after 4 sharks backing out and him answering "bohot accha, mai idhar tak aa gaya" (Really good, I came till here!) and what he'll do with his ask of ₹30 lakhs (in exchange of 10%, his original ask) and him answering buying machines to help production on larger scale, Peyush gives an offer. Ten lakhs in exchange for 40% equity in the company and ₹20 lakhs loan with 0% interest. Yes, you read it right. zero percent. You can straightaway say that Bansal helped the entrepreneur with the offer and donated the money but, and there's a big but, in a practical manner.

He became the second largest shareholder of the company and on top of it gave a loan to the founder that he can repay gradually from the profit he will be receiving after selling his bikes. Although this is a typical rich-helping-the-seeker story, for me it's more than that. For me it's an incident of Kind Capitalism, which is, fortunately, being practiced on a larger scale in today's world. While we humans are becoming increasingly nuclear, it's heartening to see established entrepreneurs helping their emerging counterparts by supporting their ventures.

It made me think even more because I just finished reading Tatayan by Girish Kuber. Tatas, as we all know, are nation builders. Be it Jamshedji, Dorabji, the great JRD, or the modest but firm Ratan Tata, Tata's have been practicing this kind capitalism since the birth of their business. Be it selling private properties to establish Indian Institute of Sciences, facilitating Homi Bhabha to establish Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), building a grand hotel as an answer to the West that India can build something grandeur or helping a mathematician by establishing a research center, Tata's have helped this country tremendously.

But while doing so they never left their primary objective of running a business and making a profit. They used this profit as an investment to grow something bigger in future with the help of makers of tomorrow.

I'm fully aware that what I saw was a TV program and what will happen with his deal is unknown, but truly that's of less importance. I was impressed with the concept of one businessman helping another to ensure that we are not killing the emerging talent. It's also a huge boost for entrepreneurs of tomorrow, who will be watching the show and getting inspired by what they are seeing. They must have gotten the belief that their ideas, if worked-on and presented with enough zeal and passion, will not just be accepted, and appreciated but funded as well. And for this one thing, Peyush Bansal deserves huge appreciation.

Socialist- and Marxist-dominated political environment has made the Indian business community to survive a lot, especially after independence. After Independence, businesses faced a huge challenge of nationalization by political leaders, and we have lost generations of talented entrepreneurs in the pursuit of doing so. Add to that an already given-up mentality of Indian middle class where they still feel that a 9-5 job is itself a huge achievement. But fortunately, it's changing. As it was said by Anupam Mittal, the founder of Shaadi.com on the Shark Tank India show itself, this decade (2020-2030) belongs to the Indian entrepreneurs and as the Indian doctors and engineers received world-wide acclaim for their tremendous performance, this will be the time of Indian entrepreneurs to bring those laurels for themselves and eventually for their country.

While we see that most of the Indian personalities getting elevated to the positions of main decision-makers of various US-based multinational organizations, it's really heartening to see such small incidents where, someone like Kamlesh from the least privileged background coming to national television and being helped by an established entrepreneur due to the sheer belief, passion, and commitment shown.

One more thing that made me watch Kamlesh's pitch repeatedly is his thoughts on getting help from the youth in his village who are educationally equipped but couldn't find anything where they could apply their knowledge. He was asked by Ghazal Alagh, founder of Mamaearth that who'll be manufacturing the bikes that he was displaying. He easily answered that while he could manufacture them by himself, he wants to build an industry in his village by giving a medium of earning to his fellow youth in his village so that they don't need to go out of their town to find means of earning by abandoning their families. This is how you build industries where the upcoming talent is appreciated and allowed to grow under an environment of transformation by a visionary. That's what Jamshedji and JRD did with Tatas.

Tatas, as the author Girish Kuber in the book says, are the only industrialists in India, while others are just mere expanded businessmen. This statement has a deeper meaning. Today, we need people who can contribute to the development of mankind through their profits and not just their business. This the culture that Tatas have been inculcating since day one and I saw a small reflection of that in Peyush Bansal while he invested in Kamlesh's company.

The world needs these kind capitalists who are investing in the foundational objectives of the country to produce something that's helpful for the masses. This is beyond making profit and not at all close to what Communists refer to as deadly capitalists who know the technique of paying less and making laborers work more. Mankind needs these capitalists today who can think of a bigger picture and help seekers to come up and grow together in an atmosphere where healthy competition exists, keeping the idea of making something bigger in mind with the help of profit earned.