Anatomy of a Seminar - National Achievers Conference - Part 6

The next Speaker was introduced as someone who has created a Rs 2000 crore business from scratch. He was Dr. Velumani, the person behind Thyocare, a thyroid testing lab, which revolutionized the lab industry by lowering the test costs and introducing the franchise model. 

Dr Velumani was awesome! He had a rustic touch. Before he started his story, he said that he does not agree with the previous speaker, who told that making money was easy and one does not have to work hard at all for it. Velumani said that one has to work hard, really hard – Mehnat karo! Then he told his story, the same story that he tells in all events that you can find here. Here is an ET article on him. He was born in a village near Coimbatore. He is the son of a landless farmer. He studied there. From villages he learnt the practicalities of life! He went to school with a slate and a plate in hand.  

He said, you either Discuss or you Decide. If you discuss, you cannot decide. If you decide, do not discuss further! You cannot do both.

• When he completed his studies at his village, he decided he go to Bombay. He did not discuss with his parents. He just left home! Had he discussed with them, they would have asked him to stay back!
• When time for marriage came, he did not discuss with his parents. He decided to marry.
• When the time of resigning his job came, he did not discuss with his wife. He resigned.
• When he thought about reducing the price of thyroid testing from Rs 100 to Rs 60, he did not discuss with anyone. He just decided to do it and profits quadrupled!

He said he studied in BARC for 14 years! He did not work as he was studying all the time. He completed his MSc and PhD in Thyroid Biochemistry. Then he decided to go into business. He wanted to reduce the cost. He offered Thyroid testing at Rs 100 while the ongoing rate was Rs 500. He reduced the supply cost. He still made money because of volume!

His main ideas were do not go for loans. Go for a very simple life. Make others win!! Act Poor. Live Frugal. Consume only 10% of salary. Focus! Have a great story. Narrate it well!

Dr Velumani got the best response from the audience. I was totally impressed. He had a lot of humorous touch to his speech. Many anecdotes he told had the audience bursting out in laughter.

He said, his success was always because he helped others win! Jeetao!

I felt this was totally entertaining, learning and worthwhile among all the speakers that I had heard till then. There was something which left me awestruck at the end. At the end of the presentation, Dr Velumani showed a picture of him and his wife. He said, that his wife passed away in Hyderabad, just 1 month back. I realized that even before his wife passed away, he used to show her picture at end of all presentations.

He got a standing  ovation from the crowd!