Over 80 business leaders representing some of the fastest growing companies gathered at The Imperial, in New Delhi on the 6th &7th for the Growth Leadership Summit to discuss challenges unique to mid sized companies. The need for such a conclave was an absence of forums which catered to their issues and to exchange ideas and best practices. The organizers 9dot9 insights remarked that while the larger and smallest businesses had lobbies supporting them, it was often the mid-size companies which needed most support.
The discussions ranged from the commonly known challenges such as war for talent and funding requirement to futuristic aspects as knowing when to let go and governance.
The panelist varied from Rajat Gupta Senior Partner, Emeritus, and Former Managing Director, McKinsey & Company, to Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Chief Executive Officer, naukri.com, Pramat Sinha and Barkha Dutt amongst others. Some of the learning’s from the discussion were discovering how to think big, learning about raising funds, hiring talent, dealing with the trauma of evolving leadership learning how to evolve from a COO and Corporate governance.
One of the critical points of discussion was “Corporate governance –whether it is an enabler or a necessity”. While there were varying views on the issue of Governance, many of the leaders present felt that SME’s & high growth companies need to focus on corporate governance to sustain high growth momentum, increased investor confidence and get better partnerships.
Governance and Compliance are the criticalities of a mid sized company and often overlooked. Talking about this, Raghu Raman of Mahindra SSG, a specialist in risk mitigation said “Profits and performance are a given hygiene factor. But what really separates companies with great potential from others is the way they are governed. Corporate Risk management and governance forms a key differentiating factor in JV’s and partnership considerations.” a view which was echoed by Cyrus Guzder, Chairman, AFL.