Small businessmen are more important to the State and the country than corporate companies, actor-politician Kamal Haasan said here on Thursday.
At a book launch at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, he said the book, written in Tamil, opened his eyes to what he had been talking about but not acting on. He appreciated the book Thoduvanam Thedi (In search of the horizon), jointly authored by A. Thillai Rajan, G. Arun Kumar and Saji Mathew, saying it reached out to those who aspire to but did not know how to move ahead.
“These kinds of tools that you put in the hands of thinking minds become formidable weapons that will change the fate of our country. I truly believe that a small businessman is more important to India, especially Tamil Nadu. We are not averse to billion dollar companies. Everything starts small and it is very important to respect that small entrepreneur. The individual matters whether it is satyagraha or small business. It is important to help realise their dreams,” Mr. Haasan said.
Socially-relevant project
The authors, who are professors in the Department of Management Studies at the institute, undertook a programme in 2016 to train micro and grassroots entrepreneurs as part of socially-relevant projects of the institute. The project was implemented in partnership with Hand in Hand India, a non-profit organisation with around 400 entrepreneurs in and around Kancheepuram district. The book has been published by Vaanavil Publications.
Mr. Thillai Rajan said the objective of the book was to synthesise and consolidate the lectures of entrepreneurship development programmes in print and make it accessible to entrepreneurs who could not participate in the programme. “We believe that by publishing the contents in a book form we will leave behind a legacy for the entrepreneur community,” he said.
Kalpana Shankar, chairperson of Hand In Hand India, said the book presented a path to success in a way that could be easily consumed by a micro and small business entrepreneur.
C. Nagarajan, director of the Entrepreneurship Development and Innovation Institute, said the book shared strategies to overcome challenges faced by small-, medium- and micro-business entrepreneurs.