Want to Be Your Own Boss? This First-Generation Entrepreneur Knows the Key Aich Group today works for major financial institutions, banks, High Court of Kolkata, NCLT and Ministry of Corporate Affairs

Belonging to a family of service class executives, this first-generation entrepreneur faced umpteen challenges as his family was frighteningly concerned about the uncertainty of entrepreneurship.

It was the passion to build his own business, the idea of "Be Your Own Boss' (BYOB), generate employment and honing a new breed of entrepreneurs that triggered Indranil Aich, founder of Aich Group, to take up entrepreneurship after a stint of 14 years in the valuation industry.

"As a first generation entrepreneur orders and revenue were never an issue, it was the lack of mentoring and the palpable uncertainty in the family that dampened my morale at time. Networking with fellow entrepreneurs, getting mentors helped," Aich told Entrepreneur India.

Aich's dream of being remembered as the founder of an institution was saw wings when his family showed conviction in him.

For 18 months, Aich observed austerity in business and it was only after revenue started coming, that acceptance followed. "Understanding entrepreneurship and business are two different things which hardly any Indian family can differentiate. Innovative entrepreneurship and general businesses have a very thin line and thin understanding amongst Indian families," rued Aich.

Aich Group today works for major financial institutions, banks, High Court of Kolkata, NCLT and Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Aich's small adventure in the field of valuation and professional appraisal services is picking pace with the group now venturing into mining, consultancy, soft skills. The group is also aiming at creating an Institute of Valuation Studies.

Corporatizing Valuation Services in India

Valuation and appraisal service in India is a sunrise segment. Aich's endeavour is to corporatize valuation services in India to provide salable support through uniform quality. Earlier valuation and appraisal services were restricted to individual valuers.

"The quality of reports and uniformity of reports was a challenge. Adopting technology was another area restricting valuers to improve geographic reach. This lead to the thought of giving birth to an organization that caters to all these needs of valuation," disclosed Aich.

Catering to a Knowledge-based Industry

The industry Aich caters to is knowledge-based and manpower intensive. Only collection of knowledge by an organization makes the difference in the quality of services, and Aich Group has been dedicated to the cause.

From four empanelments with banks to 14 empanelments with various financial institutions in the very next year, the group now boasts of 35 empanelments.

Breaking Barriers

The group is also involved in helping access to credit for those living in the remotest parts of Eastern India. Residents of these areas are now opting for mortgage loan for mobile assets at a reasonable price. It has already catered to many valuation requirements from start-ups in the agri-sector from nondescript places like Tehatta, located at the border of Bangladesh and West Bengal.

Among his achievements, Aich counts hiring engineers from below poverty level and minority sections of the society.

Aich wants to develop a chain of entrepreneurs in diverse fields who would help each other to grow and develop ecosystem enablers. His mission is to reach out to 10000 entrepreneurs by 2025.

"Most promising youngsters need proper training particularly in finance and understanding of business. Bright youngsters today are good in technology and domain knowledge but lack in goal-setting, skills, and preparing business plans. The plan is to mentor them so that they churn out success stories," he concluded.

Aich considers learning to be the nub of entrepreneurship. "Rejoicing failures while ensuring they are not repeated is also vital. A nine-month planning strategy that can be executed in three months works wonder," he enumerated.

He believes the path of an entrepreneur is not easy and breakthroughs are difficult. He also thinks understanding time is imperative and team players always win and given the 8% to 57% attrition rate in Indian MSMEs, a succession planning on every roles, makes one smart.