Tatparanandam Ananda Krishnan

A successful business tycoon “Tatparanandam Ananda Krishnan”, with net worth of $9.6 billion at age 75 holds business interests in property development, satellites and communications, oil trading and gaming. He obtained his primary and secondary education in Malaysia and his tertiary education at University of Melbourne, Australia. The entrepreneur’s “Maxis Communications” company and diversified business interests has made him one of the wealthiest business magnate in Southeast Asia. Many entrepreneurship characteristics defined by Dr. Donald F. Kuratko’s and Professor Jeffry A. Timmons can be attributed to Ananda Krishnan. Independence, self-confidence and optimism can be seen within Ananda Krishnan in where he as the corporate image of Usaha Tegas own and manage it solely by himself. Usaha Tegas is described to be Ananda Krishnan’s investment and is run as a consulting organization with interest spanning into several sectors such as Communication, Broadcasting, Media and Energy. It is run by a board of advisers hand-picked by Ananda Krishnan by himself based on their professional backgrounds and experience.

Ananda Krishnan is a man with vision. He has a clear mission and a futuristic vision to diversify his businesses He also ventured into stud farming in Australia, and is running a Hollywood cartoon studio in America and Manila. He ventured into Multimedia business and then created other business interest in satellite communication, broadcasting and gaming during the early days of 90’s. He then also developed a string of multiplex cinema in Malaysia offering the best viewing of films on bigger screens. Due to his vision and venture, his business has spread around the globe, mainly in Southeast Asia and Europe. His multimedia empire navigates the earth with two satellites includes two communication companies which are Maxis Communication and MEASAT Broadcasting Network Systems. MAXIS Communication providing the best communication globally where its largest cellular company. MEASAT Broadcasting Network System, offering 30 direct to home television channels in digital format and has today 2 million subscribers around the country.

Ananda Krishnan’s bold, daring and risk taking character led him to remove Maxis Bhd. from the Malaysian stock exchange in order to privatize the company to cater to global market. As an entrepreneur, he has a set of managerial qualities and business practices which he has applied in his bid to become a Malaysian billionaire. Ananda is planning to achieve his primary goals, where he would analyze the current situation, anticipate future undertakings and make appropriate decision to achieve his goals. As a businessman, he determines his business strategies and corporate goals together with his business partners, shareholders, employees and government sector in order to deliver strategic values, since his ultimate goal is to privatize and globalize the service provider Maxis. The decision on privatizing was his alone though he discussed and analyzed with other entrepreneurs and his shareholders including Raja Datuk Arshad Raja Tun Uda, the Chairman of Binariang Satellite Systems holdings, which is also controlled by Ananda Krishnan.

Ananda Krishnan is also a great leader to his employees. He has proved to have team building characteristic and charismatic leader by managing his company and his fellow employees effectively. Ananda is also known for his dynamism, and strong conviction. He has evoked a sense of excitement and adventure in performing his job, mesmerizing his employees and the community by applying his creativity and innovativeness and thereby ensuring his standing on No 119 in the Forbes magazine. He also leaves some of the decision- making privileges to his employees. He employs the right people for the right job. Today he is able to manage all his business from any part of the world due to his trustworthy employees. He has set specific goals and visions for all of them, leading them towards a focused working environment. Ananda as a leader has the capabilities to influence an individual in his organization as he rewards them suitably for performing their best. He maintains a professional and socially responsible image in order to accomplish his goals and sustain the interest of the society.

It has brought impact on his business as we can see due to characteristic has built business profitability as also to maintain and create job opportunity for the community. Innovativeness in him has invented new goods and services that benefit the consumers. For example, he had decided to launch two MEASAT satellites in space, which could enable any Malaysian subscriber to use the services provided by Maxis to communicate with any part of the world. And now Maxis offers everyone almost the best communication portal in terms of broadband, wireless technology and video call services.

CONCLUSION
After all, being an entrepreneur is not an easy task. An entrepreneur would require most of the management skills, which have been discussed above. An entrepreneur should be able to take risk to diversify his business. Proper planning and leadership qualities are necessary for an entrepreneur to make decision, leading, influencing and managing their employees towards achieving the organization’s mission and vision. One should be able to identify and resolve problems and apply analytical and conceptual approach to the decision making process. An entrepreneur should be able to create and deliver valuable business strategies, which would enable the employees of the organization to work towards achieving their specific targets.

Being creative and innovative makes one different from others. Therefore, these special skills would enable a businessman to create more business and job opportunities and render decision making easier. One should also create opportunities to collaborate with other organizations. Maintaining this approach would help one to take business to a higher level with increasing profit. Finally, an entrepreneur should also be responsible for any action performed regardless of internal and external environment. All of these skills can be attained by constant and continuous practice and, no doubt, anyone implementing them becomes as successful as Ananda Krishnan in the business world.