When Bill Drayton coined the phrase ‘social entrepreneurs’ in 1981, he won’t have imagined that in the then so called third world of India, a man will rise to make society his enterprise through business. That was the year in which Nandan Nilekani along with N. R. Narayan Murthy and five other friends founded Infosys. Infosys went on to become India’s most successful software firm, most admired and innovative company and first Indian company to be listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange of the US…and all of this in less than a three decades of its foundation.
So what is it that makes Nandan an asset to the humanity in every possible dimension of the term social entrepreneur? What makes this iconic technocrat entrepreneur a sought after figure to ensure that social welfare schemes reach to the weakest and the poorest (Chair of Unique Identification Authority of India)? And what makes the man not just an innovator but one who inspires innovations and much more? Remember, three times Pulitzer Prize winning author Thomas Friedman credits Nilekani for inspiring his book, ‘The World is Flat’.
In fact it is one word that has been a constant sailor of the Nandan rhetoric: Idea. Nandan Nilekani in his 531 page book based upon 126 interviews, “Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century” throughout talks about ideas. Actually, the whole book is divided as: The Ideas that have arrived, Ideas in progress, Ideas in battle and Ideas to anticipate. And Mr. Nilekani’s book of ideas has been an extraordinary success, topping bestseller lists in the US. When Vir Sanghvi asked him in an interview, “How does it feel to know that your ideas are reaching Americans who’ve never heard of you or of Infosys?” Nandan replied: ‘It’s a great feeling. It’s actually the best feeling. That’s the kind of thing I really enjoy. What was Infosys? It was an idea. What do we owe our success to? To ideas, not to labour and machinery. And now I find that my ideas are influencing people I have never met. How can I not enjoy that?’
Born in a well-educated, South Indian middle-class Brahmin family, Nandan Nilekani grew up in a very modest environment. Nandan calls himself an accidental entrepreneur who never thought of being a tycoon. But even after founding a fast growing software firm, he bought his first car only at the end of the decade of 80s. But there is more to that. Today Infosys is the 4th largest Indian company by market capitalization and his personal wealth is in excess of Rs 3,000 crore. But still Nandan carries the most primitive mobile that you can ever think of and drew a modest salary of Rs 40 lakh last year without billing any other expense to the company! His lifestyle didn’t change much even thirty years after a series of lucky opportunities. When asked about it he once said, “The whole idea of being an entrepreneur, creating values and bringing change was not about that. We wanted to build a company based upon middle class values of ethics and honesty where people are treated as human capital.” Upon money he said, “I really don’t have many expensive tastes. I have more money than I will ever need. My children will not join the company and I believe in the middle-class tradition that they should earn a living themselves. So what am I going to do with the money? Leave it to charity when I die? In that case, why not use it to do some good while I’m alive?”
Nandan has always stood to his words. His wife Rohini is the chairperson of Akshara Foundation, Pratham Books and Arghyam. Akshara Foundation is dedicated to education and the Arghyam trust tackles water issues. He also launched New India Foundation way back in 2004 to support genuine research on post-Independence Indian history. And even after a busy life schedule he can be seen among school kids from the disadvantaged sections discussing their anxieties and aspirations.
Another reason why Nandan Nilekani is much more than a technocrat is his constant association with public service assignments. He co-founded and chaired the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF), a partnership between the citizens, corporates and the administrative agencies, for almost three years since 2000. He is the member of the review committee of the Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and member of the Sam Pitroda headed National Knowledge Commission. He is also part of the National Advisory Group on e-Governance and was the chairman of the Government of India’s IT Task Force for Power. In January 2006, he became one of the youngest entrepreneurs to join 20 global leaders on the World Economic Forum (WEF) Foundation Board.
All of the above were amateur associations. But in July 2009 he relinquished the post of CEO and MD of Infosys Nandan Nilekani to chair the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Many people said that heading a government organization was not like managing a tech juggernaut since nothing succeeds in India on the government level. Mr. Nilekani wrote on his blog, “I have long been a champion of a reform approach that is inclusive of the poor, and in my book, I described unique identity as one of the key steps for achieving this goal….When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offered me the opportunity to head the UIDAI, I saw it as a chance to help enable ideas I have supported for a long time.” He concluded saying, “I hope that together, we will be able to make this initiative an enormous success.”
One year down the line, the doubts are subsiding. UIDAI is heading towards emerging as a role model for the governments world over where delivery of welfare schemes remain the greatest challenge.
Photo Credit: http://www.hindu.com/
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