PremiumListen to this article |
Mining mogul Anil Agarwal took to Twitter to narrate how he became the first Indian to get his company Vedanta listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2003. Agarwal said he decided to move to London almost "overnight".
“Most of you know me as the first Indian to get his company listed on the London stock exchange in 2003 and here’s how it began…Read below for the full story," tweeted Anil Agarwal.
"Global companies were getting listed on the LSE and I wanted to be one of them. In fact, I dreamt of being the biggest, so, I decided to move to London," he said.
Calling his wife his biggest support system, he recalled how she went to their daughter Priya’s school and asked for a six-month leave because of her confidence of being back by then.
"She still arranged everything without a doubt, always my biggest support system. I did not pack much but managed to take my mother’s parathas and babuji’s shawl as a symbol of their blessings," Agarwal said.
Agarwal, who is a first-generation entrepreneur hailing from a small village in Bihar and is now based in London, further recalled his experience after landing at London's Heathrow airport. "It felt like a different world, foreign people with different accents, cold and rainy weather, big white buildings. I was reminded of everyone who told me - choti chidiya bade aasmano me nahi uda karti. I felt fear after a long time," wrote Agarwal
"I did not have much when I arrived in London, but I had one thing — the belief and blessings of my margdarshak - my parents, so here I was, enjoying this new journey of life with my wife and children beside me."
Anil Agarwal in an interaction with students at the Oxford Union in London last month motivated them to dream big as he shared important learnings from his entrepreneurial journey.
"My journey from a small village in Bihar to London Stock Exchange has been one filled with many learnings, lots of hard work, and self-belief. My advice to the students was simple: be fearless (because luck favours the brave), be humble (because growth happens when you look inwards), and be flexible (because there is no substitute for hard work). The amalgamation of youth and tech will lead the world to a newer order," he asserted.