Interview With A Rubber Leader_R V Gandhi_GRP

| LEADER - INTERVIEW |
In this journey of over 40 years with
GRP and in the rubber industry, here
are few take away as I reflect back.
• One must dare to dream.
Entrepreneurship is about dreaming,
conceptualising.
• One must have healthy reservoir of
patience and perseverance.
• One has to have long term focus.
• It is important to have right values
and healthy precedents to be
introduced in the very beginning of
a start-up enterprise.
• Taking risk is an integral part of
entrepreneurship.
10
“It is important to have
right values and healthy
precedents to be introduced
in the very beginning of a
start-up enterprise.”
PW: You have donned quite a few hats
in your career – a rubber reclaim
pioneer, visionary entrepreneur,
representative of various bodies,
advisor, mentor, educationist,
championing causes of woman
empowerment and employment
amongst other corporate and personal
initiatives. Which is the position that
you enjoyed the most?
RVG: It is true that I have donned many
hats in my career. Of course, all hats were
not donned at the same time, but at
different times.
I can broadly divide my role in 3 parts;
a) In Business as an entrepreneur,
b) In Industry as a member of different
rubber bodies, and
c) In social area, as an active citizen.
In Business: When I decided to enter the
reclaim rubber industry, I was aware that
there were few established players then. So I
cannot call myself a pioneer then. As I began
to grapple with the routine issues faced by
any new enterprise, I realised soon that I
need to do things differently, to carve out a
niche. The idea of designing and selffabricating
all equipment for manufacture of
Know A Leader - Rubber & Tyre Machinery World | APR 2016