The Bhatia’s have a very mythical history. While legend suggests that the community is an offshoot of Lord Krishna himself (around 160^th generation) from the Sindh Samma dynasty, the community was an important Kshatriya community which controlled the Silk Route at Jaisalmer. Bhatiashave helped build Mandvi as a famous port which traded with the Middle East. Over the centuries, they were also instrumental in the growth of Bombay and were traders, money lenders and entrepreneurs renowned for their business acumen, notably in setting up cotton mills in the 1860 to 1890s and in building ties with the Middle East, Somalia, Mozambique and Zanzibar.The community has been progressive and dynamic with many firsts to its name when it comes to business. The Bhatia community is renowned for its philanthropic pursuits namely setting up schools, hospitals, sanatoriums, i.e., the businessmen always had a sense of giving back to the community. It is the same roots which have enabled the formation and evolution of the Global Bhatia Benevolent Foundation (GBBF).

Ever since its formation, the GBBF has successfully steered various business, cultural and sports events. The first edition of the Bhatia Business Conference, held in December 2017, received an overwhelming response. This encouraged the team at GBBF to curate the second edition of the Bhatia Business Conference in 2020. The Bhatia Business Conference – Edition II was held right opposite the famous Bandstand in Mumbai, at the Taj Lands End Hotel, on 9^th February 2020.The conference witnessed a heartening participation from established business houses as well as from many first-generation and aspiring entrepreneurs. Around 125 Bhatias from Mumbai, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Hyderabad and Chennai had come over. Participation of women entrepreneurs was also inspiring. Shri AshwinbhaiShroff rightly pointed out,“We have a diverse mix of attendees today”.

The Bhatia Business Conference- Edition II was themed around the principles of “Connect, Collaborate and Communicate.” The event structure, content design and the topics for discussion were finalized based on the challenges faced in the current ‘VUCA World’. VUCA is a term from the American military which means Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous, which has now made it to the business lexicon.

The full-day event began with greetings from Mr. Kaushal Sampat, Founder of Rubix Data Sciences Private Limited, who has been instrumental in curating both the editions of the Bhatia Business Conference. GBBF’s Chairman Shri Ashwinbhai Shroff, who is also the Executive Chairman of Excel Industries Limited,enthralled the delegated through his welcome speech. While adorning the ‘Bhatia Pagdi,’ Shri Ashwinbhai passed on the message that as we tread into the VUCA world, it is of utmost importance to be attached to our roots.

The Keynote address was delivered by our very own Bhatia – Mr. Harsh Mariwala, who leads Marico Limited as its Chairman. Mr. Mariwalastressed on the importance of ensuring that interests of all shareholders, employees, vendors and other stakeholders are taken care of. Since a business cannot be run by a single individual alone, it is important to ensure that the stakeholders are respected and satisfied. He also shared his insights into the “purpose” of conducting business.

The next session was delivered by the Guest of Honour, Mr. Ashishkumar Chauhan. Mr. Chauhan is the MD & CEO of the Bombay Stock Exchange. Mr. Chauhan encouraged the family owned businesses to opt for listing on the stock exchange. He shared his insights on how listing can be beneficial by sharing a classic example of Infosys Ltd., which listed itself on a foreign stock exchange.

An interesting session on “Creating Momentum for Scaling up Growthfollowed next. It was delivered by Mr. Ramas Krishnan, Founder and Managing Director of ASPIRE Infinite and Tab India. His analogies inspired the delegates to scale up “by choice” and not merely by chance.He shared a few ways in which business can be scaled up not just in terms of revenue and profits alone, but also in terms of reducing the costs and time involvement while achieving identical results.

The subsequent discussion was led by Mr. Ashok Barat and Dr. Mita Dixiton the critical subject of “Managing Family Businesses in a VUCA World”.  Mr. Ashok Barat is a Chartered Accountant and also a Managing Partner at Merx Business Advisors LLP. He advocated that VUCA is not a new concept since changes have always been part of a business. However, the pace at which changes are taking place has certainly increased. He shared the four crucial types of changes / disruptions constantly taking place in any business – technology disruptions, legal and regulatory disruptions, business model disruption and social disruption – andenlightened the delegatedon the ways to confront them.

Dr.Mita Dixit, co-founder and Director of Equations Advisors Pvt. Ltd., moderated a panel discussion with Mr. Ashok Barat and our own eminent entrepreneur Mr. Vikram Udeshi, CFO of Jayant Agro-Organics Ltd. Shri Vikrambhai shared his experience about how the business of Jayant Agro was built by the first and second-generation entrepreneurs in the family. Later, as new family members were added to the clan, the business started scaling up.

Charged with the interesting ideas and insights during the first half of the day, the delegates networked over a sumptuous lunch which included a special Bhatia menu of Daal-Dhokali, Undhiyu and Kadhi. Getting back into the momentum would have been a really arduous task post lunch, had it not been for a live performance by a young talented Devansh Bhatia (aka DawGeek). The delegates were tapped to the tunes of the Kutchi Rap number written and composed by Devansh himself.

Over the past several years, sustainability has become a buzzword. Prof. Meena Galliara, Director of the Jasani Center for Social Entrepreneurship & Sustainability Management, NarseeMonjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) emphasized on the fact that sustainability is no longer a choice, it is now a business imperative. She shared tips on how we can support the environment and conserve our resources in petite ways. Likewise, sustainability also involves implementing measures for improving the livelihood and experiences of the employees and stakeholders.

Do you think the conference would have been complete without a discussion on the all-encompassing Digital Revolution?Today, every facet of our life is impacted by digital technologies. Growth and survival of businesses without digital marketing is next to impossible. Mr. Siddharth Hegde, Managing Director, Ethinos Digital Marketing demonstrated, with statistical evidence, why it is essential to embrace the digital revolution. He shared a few ideas on how one’s business can go digital and on choosing the right digital platform depending on the target audience.

There are two things which are certain in life – death and taxes. Keeping this in mind, our very own eminent Bhatia Chartered Accountant Mr. Nikhil Bhatia, Partner at CNK & Associates LLP, advised entrepreneurs that it is always better to pay the optimum tax and rest peacefully; rather than always worry about taxes. He informed that one of the greatest challenges faced when setting up or scaling up an entity is about deciding its legal structure.There are advantages and disadvantages in choosing each legal constitution eg., Proprietorship, Partnership, Limited Liability Partnership, or a company – private or public. Though the LLP structure is quite common these days, structuring a business as LLP should not be a default option. An important aspect to be kept in mind is that tax planning should always be secondary to commercial expediency.

An entrepreneur’s life is a tough path – having its own share of highs and lows. Hence, it is important that entrepreneurs develop emotional resilience. This was demonstrated by Dr. Surya Tahora, Professor at SPJIMR (SP Jain Institute of Management and Research), Mumbai, through a Chinese folk tale. It was an interactive session where the delegates shared their thoughts on the tale. Through this, Dr. Tahora established that it is not possible to stay totally unmoved or unaffected by the things happening around us. Hence, it would be virtuous to realize that we cannot control the results of our actions, but can control our actions.

As dusk approached, it was heartening to witness the successful culmination of the second edition of Bhatia Business Conference. It is rightly said that, “The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions”. This conference would not have achieved the desired results without the able guidance of our veterans– Shri Ashwinbhai Shroff and Shri ShirishbhaiAnjaria.  Equations Advisors Pvt. Ltd., a company specialized in guiding family owned businesses, was the Knowledge Partner of the event. Saumya Dixit and Sushant Ambekar from Equations India have played a key role right from conception to execution of the event.We specially acknowledge the efforts of Mr. Kaushal Sampat and Dr. Mita Dixit, the two architects of this conference. The entire event was witness to solid teamwork of GBBF volunteers like Mrs. Leena Merchant, Mr. Nirav Bhimani, Mr. Vishal Sampat, and Mr. Kunal Gangwani.

GBBF has an intense desire to witness the Bhatia community staying abreast in the VUCA world and to support the community in its business endeavours. To achieve this, the team GBBF is soon expected to announce tie-ups with TAB India to provide coaching to entrepreneurs and Equations India for helping family businesses in their journey to grow harmoniously. GBBF is also expected to announce Planting Growth Workshops, in Mumbai as well as in other cities.