Follow the leader
Ravi Sharma to MNCs: Hold my hand and I will show you the way to do business.
There are not many countries in which an MNC pays a hefty premium just to secure a licence to do business. It happens in India. Just two examples: Telenor of Norway paid a premium of over a billion dollars to realty firm Unitech for a 60 per cent stake in its telecom arm. Unitech had paid Rs 1,651 crore for a pan-India mobile licence for GSM spectrum in 13 circles. Unitech then sold 60 per cent stake in the business— which essentially was the licence and little else—to the Norwegian major for Rs 6,120 crore. The conclusion many foreign businesses are likely to reach: You have to pay a premium for managing the regulatory and political environment if you want to do business in India.
There may be another, more cost-effective, option: Hire a consultant who can handhold you through the Byzantine maze of regulation and intrigue. Enter Ravi Sharma and his two partners. “Our proposition is not capital, but management services that will not only help in reducing promoters’ capital but will also trim down the time to market,” says Sharma, 47, who has named his venture Phi. “Phi is a wonderful name, easy to pronounce and has two very powerful meanings: Wisdom of God and the Golden Ratio,” he adds.
Sharma and Pramod Saxena, former Head of Motorola India, first discussed the idea of floating such a venture. Later, they roped in B.D. Khurana, former CEO, Reliance Communications. “Our new association is more like a meeting of minds at the professional level,” says Saxena. In fact, both Sharma and Saxena, who are the majority (and equal) partners in Phi, have studied engineering from IIT Roorkee in Uttarakhand. The business model is such that Phi can earn minority equity in return for strategic, regulatory and management support in the initial phase of a new MNC venture.
“That’s why we call ourselves Angel Partners,” says Sharma. Phi will nurture the new venture for 2-4 years. Since the promoters have experience in telecom, projects in this sector will be a focus area. But Phi is also in discussions with MNCs in renewable energy and green energy solutions. Phi is ready with three engagement models: One, a joint venture with an MNC; two, incubate a business with venture capital support and then bring in an MNC as a majority partner; the third is the option of finding suitable MNC partners for Indian companies. In all three models, Phi would earn a minority stake in the business.
Phi’s biggest strength is, undoubtedly, the breadth and depth of its core team, which has over 50 years of experience that goes right up to CEOs of big league corporations. They’ve all been there, done that—and now they’d like to show others the way.
There may be another, more cost-effective, option: Hire a consultant who can handhold you through the Byzantine maze of regulation and intrigue. Enter Ravi Sharma and his two partners. “Our proposition is not capital, but management services that will not only help in reducing promoters’ capital but will also trim down the time to market,” says Sharma, 47, who has named his venture Phi. “Phi is a wonderful name, easy to pronounce and has two very powerful meanings: Wisdom of God and the Golden Ratio,” he adds.
Claim to fame: He spearheaded Alcatel’s South Asia expansion; also got a pan-India cellular licence for Venugopal Dhoot’s Datacom |
“That’s why we call ourselves Angel Partners,” says Sharma. Phi will nurture the new venture for 2-4 years. Since the promoters have experience in telecom, projects in this sector will be a focus area. But Phi is also in discussions with MNCs in renewable energy and green energy solutions. Phi is ready with three engagement models: One, a joint venture with an MNC; two, incubate a business with venture capital support and then bring in an MNC as a majority partner; the third is the option of finding suitable MNC partners for Indian companies. In all three models, Phi would earn a minority stake in the business.
Phi’s biggest strength is, undoubtedly, the breadth and depth of its core team, which has over 50 years of experience that goes right up to CEOs of big league corporations. They’ve all been there, done that—and now they’d like to show others the way.
