Be it a State or a Company, Running The Show is Commendable This time around in our CEO special, we bring you a state, and 10 CEOs who are doing something out of their league

By Ritu Marya

This story appears in the August 2018 issue of Entrepreneur India. Subscribe »

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Today, as Startup India has become the common man's slogan – it is really heartening to see that Indian states and the state governments have taken it upon themselves to be the torchbearers of this movement. Chief Ministers are working toward enhancing economic growth by promoting competition, entrepreneurship, and innovation. And, through such initiatives, the head of the states are reaching out to every strata of the population to touch and influence their lives by making them responsible for their own employment, particularly the youth. Stimulating economic and job growth via entrepreneurship and innovation has become the common theme of state government policies since the last two to three years and pro-entrepreneurship policies have been implemented by Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Goa amongst others.

I was in Bikaner (Rajasthan) recently attending the Digifest 2018 and the government's initiative to empower the youth and encourage them to go to the next mile, with the involvement of over 75,000 people, for two to three days was a marvelous sight. I met some young entrepreneurs who are looking at Rajasthan's problems from the specs of finding solutions and how they can create some gamechanging business models.

Our current issue also reaches out to the CEOs who are today entrepreneurs in their own right but in a different genre. In current times, I would go on to say that a professional CEO - with or without the founder, who founded the company and helped it to reach a certain level, would really take up the helm of the organization and take it to the next orbit. In an era when technology trumps tradition, the most important skill that CEOs bring to the table is to be a turnaround specialist. In our endeavor, we reached out to the most daring CEOs who had the courage to question everything and are living true to the role of a leader taking care of the shareholders, the employees, and the customers.

Our annual leadership conclave "Entrepreneur 2018" concluded last month and if you were not there to attend it, you have missed some serious dope and networking opportunities. We are going to make it up to you as we have captured the best learnings from the men and women who are sitting at the center of change and building a new India block by block. Our regular features also showcase stories from the technology world on one end and the social sector on the other. A start-up, Bamboo India, here finds a special mention for reminding us every morning about putting away the plastic from our lives for mundane tasks like brushing our teeth. Thank you for being a part of our anniversary celebration this month.

Ritu Marya

Editor-in-Chief, Entrepreneur Media (APAC & India)

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