Once every year, I turn the mirror inward to look at my life -on my birthday. It is that time of the year once again.
The dominant theme for the past year was about NetCore, the company I run. I spent the better part of the year focused on the business – more than I have in the past many years. Part of the reason was that there was nothing else to do – the political side of things via Friends of BJP took a backseat given what was happening within the BJP during the first part of the past year. In addition, as we expanded the consumer side of what we do in NetCore, it required a lot more attention from me.
The enterprise side of our business in mailing and mobility has grown well. The hope is that they will continue to grow and be cash generators for the future as well, achieving increasing scale and profitability. That will allow us to invest in the consumer businesses – on the Internet and mobile. In the Internet space, we acquired Greynium -with a bet that the future of the Internet in India will be about local (local languages, locally relevant content, and local needs).
The mobile space is where we have a path which is different from the rest of the industry. Our focus is on direct-to-consumer services – mobile-linked identity, content and payments. The first step in this direction came with the launch of MyToday, the SMS AppStore. It will take time to put all the elements in place, but the start has been very good. Each day is brimming with new ideas on how we can grow it. A few pieces of the jigsaw puzzle still need to fall in place, and that’s what I am now focused on.
Continued tomorrow.
