Experience is said to be the best teacher. Like we learn from our own experiences and move forward, we can get inspired by success stories of others too. It is equally applicable for individuals, organizations and even nations. If it benefits us and the society, we can learn from good examples of even our enemies.
According to reports, China’s social media and video game major Tencent has become more valuable company than Facebook. The success of Tencent is phenomenal.
Here we are not attempting to analyze the pros and cons of Tencent’s success. The fact is that a purely China-centred company has overtaken global giants like the Facebook. The success story of Tencent is worth studying and replicating.
Tencent’s stunning success is a wake-up call for Indian entrepreneurs. Why can’t we start an Indian version of Tencent? We have the talents and skills with the best information technology and digital experts available locally. We have the resources and infrastructure. There is no dearth of innovative ideas in India. Then, what is stopping us?
It can be argued that Facebook and Twitter are blocked in China facilitating a conducive monopolistic business climate for Tencent to flourish. Whereas, India has been the favourite playground of global IT and digital giants. Partially true. Partially because if we develop a “desi” version with competent features and offerings at par with global players, we can certainly succeed. The Indian government should patronize such ventures.
We are not advocating for banning or blocking foreign players. We are only suggesting to make use of our superiority in competency and entrepreneurship in full. Don’t limit it to IT and digital spaces. A globally dominating Indian company in any field is welcome.
Yes, we do have our own highly successful corporates. But nothing to compare with Tencent.
There is sense in the argument that China is not a democratic country like India. To succeed like China, we don’t need to adopt a one-party system. For us, our multi-party democracy is the best system. What we need is government protection for swadeshi companies and their products and services of global standards, at affordable costs, so that foreign players won’t exploit our vast market.
Let us hope our government and entrepreneurs will rise to the Chinese challenges and become successful sooner than later.