Business coaching devises the curriculum to nurture a successful entrepreneurial mind rather than just a business mindset. What is the difference? The difference is that of you succeeding in your business irrespective of its kind. For any entrepreneur, establishing a business is only half the battle won. The real battle begins after you start your startup.
You need a business coach to see your dream business generate the dream returns you envisioned and desired. You must embrace the fact ASAP. A business coach helps you bridge the gap between dream and reality, guiding you towards the exponential returns you deserve.
This is where Shyam Taneja enters. He isn’t your average business coach. With over 40 years of experience, he’s not just guiding entrepreneurs; he’s reshaping the entire industry.
On the Path to Perpetual Prosperity
From his early days working with large corporations to his current focus on empowering individuals and organizations through Unnati Unlimited, Shyam has carved a unique path that blends experience, innovation, and a deep understanding of the human element in achieving success.
As a visionary leader in the industry, Shyam is rated as one of the best 10 Business Coaches in India. He promoted a company, Unlimited Unnati (P) Ltd, and an NGO, “I Can I Will Foundation.” These two organizations have a common mission: to Build India.
Shyam states, “We believe the Indian MSME sector can take India to the world’s top three countries.” The Indian MSME industry contributes close to 28 % of India’s GDP. This industry has the potential to grow India to unbelievable levels. He says that because at Unnati, he has worked for the past 30 years exclusively with the MSME business leaders, and he has had the privilege to witness their tenacious, enterprising spirit. “Entrepreneurship is in our genes,” says Shyam, who graduated in electrical engineering from the University of Roorkee (now IIT Roorkee) and worked for the Operation Flood project pioneered by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).
“It has been a powerful learning period for me, and working directly under the legendary – Dr V Kurien was an experience of a lifetime,” shares Shyam, who also served as the Managing Director of HPCL – Hindustan Packaging Company Limited, which was a joint venture of NDDB and Tetra Pak of Switzerland. HPCL brought aseptic packaging to India way back in the 1980s.
Having worked for 25 years, Shyam’s entrepreneurial spirit began thinking of setting up an organisation that could help entrepreneurs reach their full potential. His daughter Neeru and he decided to start Unlimited Unnati as a private limited company. “The motivation was to share my business and operational management expertise with leaders of small and medium-sized enterprises,” he adds.
Benchmarking a Winning Attitude
His company and NGO have emerged as India’s transformational organizations in their niches. Shyam shares their guiding philosophy: “We sincerely believe individual transformation is the only path to unlimited growth, and transformation is a journey.” Tinkering does not help; it’s a complete shift (transformation) that propels people to explore their full potential, leading to a fulfilled life and successful business. It needs transformation of the self. “That is how we registered our slogan ‘I Can I Will.” It simply and powerfully means that each human has unique and unlimited “Potential” (I Can) that can be explored and put to use for achieving their dream by bringing in “Commitment” (I Will).
According to Shyam, the industrial landscape is not only continually evolving but also evolving at an unprecedented speed. What was done in days earlier can now be done in hours and sometimes minutes. The speed of change has changed.
He adds, “Our USP is in our belief that all humans are endowed with unlimited potential.” They need awareness of their unique talents and a way to harness them to serve the purpose for which they are born. Following others blindly will never take them to the heights they can reach by exploring themselves. “Our total commitment to our purpose has brought us to the level of growth that we have achieved,” says Shyam, whose visionary leadership style is often recognized as a driving force behind his company’s achievements.
The Leadership for Future Transformation
Highlighting the same, he says, “I strongly and sincerely believe that all entrepreneurs must be the product of their product. translated into our coaching business – we must practice first what we preach.” The purpose of each organization is to serve its customers with sincerity. “We don’t blindly borrow or preach theories from the Western world, and we believe that the wisdom in our Indian culture can help all of us live better and more enriched lives.”
The essence of future transformation lies in innovation, disruptions, and enhancing the end-user experience. Thus, Shyam says they prioritise their customers and their needs. “We believe the balance between operational efficiency and customer satisfaction is automatically achieved by believing in and executing the philosophy ‘Customer first.” Any organisation must continuously be in touch with its customers and try to align their products or services to their changing needs—those who don’t perish.
Digitalization and technological advancements are crucial aspects of the modern industrial ecosystem. Shyam, too, says that the latest growth drivers are Automation and AI. They at Unnati and the ‘I Can I Will Foundation’ strive to learn and implement these developments, keeping in mind the comfort of their customers. “Using the latest technological developments may harm us and our customers if we don’t keep our customers aligned by regulating the speed.”
Simultaneously, in the interest of both, they help their customers adopt and embrace the latest technological developments and implement them for the growth of their organizations.
Uniting the Optimum Force
Shyam ardently believes that the workforce is the pillar of growth of any organization. “Keeping in mind the unique needs of our culture, we have restructured the remuneration of the workforce. We have designed it to contain the Presence, Performance, Continuity, and Growth components. We have minimised the quick changeovers with a focus on performance.”
Shyam and his team faced their share of challenges as a leader in India’s industrial sector. Sharing an instance where his team’s resilience and ingenuity triumphed over adversity, Shyam says that the biggest challenge they have faced with their customers is ignorance of the need for continuous learning and upgrading to keep pace with the changes. Most entrepreneurs do not have formal business education and miss crucial skills and mindsets to lead a business in these times. “Coaching them through our group, one-on-one, and our free webinars has helped them understand all facets of business with the needs of their learning,” he mentions.
Innovation Wisdom Infinitum
Businesses are a way for the Indian industry to pace up its economic potential and capacity. Shyam advises other budding entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the startup space: “Our experience of three decades reveals that most Indians have dreams of having their own business.” Start-up space and speed are proving the thought. However, the success rate is extremely low. The reason is that no university teaches the practical part of the theory. It is the application of known that gives results. “We say ‘Knowledge is a burden unless implemented. We have taken steps to support the Start-Ups for educating (theory and implementation).”
Looking ahead, Shyam divulges their vision: Promoters of Unnati have set up an NGO that is committed to educating and conducting practical learning programs for implementation on the part of entrepreneurs. In addition, the Foundation has teams that coach employees of the SME sector enterprises to stay tuned with the growth ambitions of the entrepreneurs. “We have miles to go to realize our Mission: Build India, but we continue to walk. We Can and we will,” he concludes.
