'CEO Connect' at DoMS, IIT Madras Hosts Dr. Surinder Kapur, CEO & MD - Sona Koyo Steering Systems Ltd.

Department of Management Studies (DoMS), IIT Madras, played host to Dr. Surinder Kapur, CEO & Managing Director of Sona Koyo Steering Systems Ltd. on February 9, 2006. In an interactive session with the students, Dr. Kapur talked on the requirements of budding entrepreneurs and the challenges to be faced by them.
The eminent speaker began with a question to everyone. He asked everyone present to reflect upon themselves and ask a question, "Who am I? What have I done?" Dr. Kapur gave an insight into what makes people successful and also what drives them to failure.

Talking about entrepreneurship, Dr. Kapur said everybody wants to be an entrepreneur, to be a Mahindra, a Tata in the making. For this entire process, it's very important to dream, which has become easier today because of the newer technology and the better infrastructure available. But realizing dreams requires a lot of effort. What we look in a leader is for the billions he made, but what is more important is to look into is the leadership qualities. He illustrated the case of dreaming by giving the case of Mr. Aziz Premji.

The reply to how to become an entrepreneur, according to him, would depend on the one who asks. Real entrepreneurs want to break away from constraints, get power and be independent. Often the ticket from an institute like IIT helps, but the real entrepreneur would have a churning and a desire to succeed inside.

He went on to speak about his family background of jewellery retail and how he was led to become an engineer. Financial conditions led him to choosing Michigan State University over Stanford and NY University. He did his Ph.D. from there and this entire experience of doing the Ph.D. was what led to the development of self-belief and confidence in him.

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Contributed by -
Anoop Bhatt,
MBA Student,
Department of Management Studies,
IIT Madras.