Billion dollar sales, investments, mergers… it’s all happening in India. What does it all mean? What are the qualities of a good entrepreneur? There are lessons to be learnt from mjunction, one of the largest e-commerce companies in India, HQed in our city.

Some say the vision of Viresh Oberoi — founder CEO and managing director — to look “beyond growth and profits” is responsible for the company’s success. “There needs to be a purpose; you need to identify some social and socio-economic problems. If you decide to solve some of these problems, you automatically have a sustainable business model,” he told t2.

Oberoi also happens to be the national president of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of India (MSSI). So his company came forward to support an event to observe World Multiple Sclerosis Day on May 27, at the Avani Riverside Mall.

Founded in February 2001 as a joint venture between Tata Steel and SAIL, mjunction has seen it all. t2 caught up with the 58-year-old Oberoi, who is also an avid golfer. In fact, the sport to him represents three essential qualities –– honesty, integrity and courtesy.

E-commerce encompasses more than e-retail. But people often forget that...

We started a few months before the dot.com burst happened. Everyone ran away and they ran so far away that e-commerce got a bad name for many years to come. That was the environment we grew up in. So, in a way, we were written off before we started. In the last couple of years there has been a great deal of interest and revaluation as far as e-commerce goes. What we call e-commerce is actually consumer product sale, e-retail… and that is just one part of the e-commerce story. E-commerce goes much beyond that. E-commerce is B2B, commodities, products, services and much more. It’s a huge canvas and Flipkart and others occupy a small space on it. We occupy another small space on the canvas. There is a great deal of opportunity for all of us to grow.

We keep reading about billion-dollar mergers. Will this last?

Our value of transaction last year was Rs 44,000 crore, which is a large number. This is what went through our system. We obviously don’t see this as our revenue. But we do see that our revenue gives us a sufficient amount of growth as well as profits. These other companies are all making losses. I don’t know how sustainable this could be. Somebody must be having great plans for this to work but whether these plans are going to fructify or not is another issue. At some point there will be a shake-up and somebody is going to say, enough. The question is still out.

mjunction’s initial years were tough. What prompted you to carry on?

The first milestone was within three months of getting incorporated, within three weeks of getting our funding, the dot.com burst happened and everyone expected us to shut shop. We decided to soldier on. It was a defining moment. Second, we were given a business model –– by a consultant –– which said we would make losses for five years for which reason we required Rs 20 crore in capital. We only got Rs 8 crore. We quickly threw away the business plan and wrote a new one whereby we stated that we would make profits from day one. So it really changed the way we were thinking. These are defining moments that made us stronger and self-reliant.

How did you come up with a sustainable business model?

It is important to have a purpose… one that goes beyond growth and profits. There needs to be a purpose; you need to identify some social and socio-economic problems. If you decide to solve some of these problems, you automatically have a sustainable business model. Number two, don’t be wedded to your past successes or business models. If customers demand a change, the business model needs to be modified in a way to provide value addition.

What is your message for aspiring entrepreneurs?

It’s important that you dream big. Second, see what you can do for others. Find a socio-economic problem and soon like-minded people will automatically join you in the cause. If you have an idea, become an entrepreneur, take it forward. It’s wonderful out there. It’s both challenging and rewarding.

Can the book Intrapreneurs @ mjunction: The Making of an E-commerce Giant  (by Rajeev Kumar; Rupa Publications, Rs 395) also inspire entrepreneurs?

The book has been written with a clear theme and that’s ‘intrapreneurship’ (being an entrepreneur while working within a large organisation). The time when we started, the name of the company was metaljunction and not mjunction. So we were supposed to be operating very much in the metal space. But we have broken out and are in spaces more than one. The entire focus has been one of intrapreneurship. We make it very clear to the people who are joining us that we provide them with a platform to come an experiment on; to come and learn. Our job is to guide and motivate and your job is to create.

... And his passion

to visit new places and meet new people

The first time I was out for a long time… for about three months… was in my early 20s. We went backpacking across Europe. The highlight was to spend nights in youth hostels. We spent nights in parks and railway stations… it was a great way to backpack and see the world. We made it a habit and every year we would be off to a new place. 

Till the late 1990s access to the Internet was difficult and there was no means to find out what a country held out for you –– where to go, where to stay. It was fun and challenging. In the early 1990s we had books like Lonely Planet which managed to give some information. It’s been my passion to visit new places and meet new people. 
When I was about 16 years old. My parents were based in Tripoli in Libya. I got onto a flight from Delhi and in those days there were no direct flights. And I had to fly via Rome. Back then there was no embassy of Libya in India and I was told I would get my visa on arrival. But in Rome I was refused to fly onwards without a visa. I was offloaded from the flight. There I was caught in Rome for a weekend with $7 in my pocket. I spent about five nights in Rome trying to get things together. I had no hand luggage. And it was winter. Even a small thing like not having a comb had a severe impact! I went to the Indian embassy where I was told I could be sent back to India but they wouldn’t be able help with my onward journey. But there was this Indian security guard who was willing to lend me some money. I managed to get some photographs taken because it was required for my visa. After that, everything seemed simple and easy to do.

In terms of an adventure, we went to Greece in the late 1980s. This was before Lonely Planet. We decided to visit a neighbouring country and decided on Turkey. We landed in Istanbul and went to a youth hostel. There we met a couple –– an Irish woman and an Australian man. They introduced us to Lonely Planet. They tore off the part on Greece and Turkey and advised us to spend more time in Turkey. We changed our plans of spending three weeks in Greece and one week in Turkey. It became the other way around. It turned out to be a wonderful experience because of the wonderful people we met and the unexplored places we visited.
Back then we had time, which we unfortunately don’t these days! But the passion to meet people and explore remains

 

 

As a budding e-preneur what would you like to ask Viresh Oberoi? Tell t2@abp.in