Thriving in the Age of Disruption

Venturing Out - Lessons From My Entrepreneurial Journey: Mr. Rajiv Dalmia (United Arab Emirates)

September 26, 2022 Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra & Mr. Rajiv Dalmia Season 1 Episode 22
Thriving in the Age of Disruption
Venturing Out - Lessons From My Entrepreneurial Journey: Mr. Rajiv Dalmia (United Arab Emirates)
Show Notes Transcript

Starting a business from scratch is one of the hardest things a person can do. It's also one of the most rewarding. The ability to take calculated risks is surely one of the defining characteristics that separates successful entrepreneurs like Mr. Rajiv Dalmia, Founder and Chairman of Data Direct Group, from those who just dream about it. 

Rajiv shares with Dr. Ramesh how he left the safety of the family business, to strike out on his own to build a successful life and business, in a new country and a new industry.

Don't miss Dr. Ramesh's conversation with Rajiv as he shares practical advice and insights from his tech entrepreneurship journey.

To learn more about the entrepreneurial mindset with Dr. Ramesh, get your copy of The Big Jump into Entrepreneurship 2.0 on Amazon.com or www.Dr-Ramesh.com.

Host: Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra, Author, Podcast Host and Founder of Talent Leadership Crucible

Guest Speaker: Mr. Rajiv Dalmia, Founder & Chairman, Data Direct Group

#EntrepreneurialMindset #UAE #Dubai #Technopreneur #DigitalTransformation #RajivDalmia #Dr.RameshRamachandra #TheBigJumpintoEntrepreneurship2.0 #CrisisReadyMindset #TalentLeadershipCrucible #Thriving #AgeofDisruption #DataDirectGroup #Bancassurance #DocumentManagement #DigitalMarketing #ITOutsourcingServices #ITS #MonashUniversity #MBAClass90-92

To learn more about the entrepreneurial mindset with Dr. Ramesh, get your copy of The Big Jump into Entrepreneurship 2.0 on Amazon.com or www.Dr-Ramesh.com.

Host: Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra, Author, Podcast Host and Founder of Talent Leadership Crucible

Guest Speaker: Mr. Rajiv Dalmia, Founder & Chairman, Data Direct Group

#EntrepreneurialMindset #UAE #Dubai #Technopreneur #DigitalTransformation #RajivDalmia #Dr.RameshRamachandra #TheBigJumpintoEntrepreneurship2.0 #CrisisReadyMindset #TalentLeadershipCrucible #Thriving #AgeofDisruption #DataDirectGroup #Bancassurance #DocumentManagement #DigitalMarketing #ITOutsourcingServices #ITS #MonashUniversity #MBAClass90-92


Ho Lai Yun  00:00

Hello and Welcome to Thriving in the Age of Disruption. Today, Dr. Ramesh catches up with an old friend she has not seen for over 30 years, Mr. Rajiv Dalmia, who is now a successful tech entrepreneur and angel investor based in the Middle Eastern city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Rajiv is the Founder and Chairman of Data Direct Group, a global provider of digital transformation services and solutions.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  00:28

Welcome, Rajiv to Thriving in the Age of Disruption Podcast Series. I'm so excited to have you here. It's been some 30 odd years that we last met each other.

Rajiv Dalmia  00:38

I think it was about 30 odd years. Firstly, great to be back, the journey has been long but at the same time, we shortened it very quickly through this initiative.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  00:46

That's right. I wanted to start off the session by having you introduce yourself, anything that you want to share with the listeners.

Rajiv Dalmia  00:53

Sure. Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity. I am Rajiv Dalmia, an Indian by my origin as well as my nationality. I left home very early in life to study abroad. And that's where I met you, Ramesh.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  01:08
Yes, that's right.

Rajiv Dalmia  01:08
And then the journey started. So from a career point of view, it was only after '92 where I started working, and trying to create my identity, coming from a business family though. And then travelled a few countries. Of course, Australia was the starting point, and then to Indonesia, to Nepal, and then finally landed up in Dubai, in UAE, actually not realising that I would spend the rest of my life living here. It was in '96 when I landed here. And yes, since then, it has been a journey of about 26 odd years, which has gone through various ups and downs, part of the family business to start with, and then eventually starting on my own in 2002. So yeah, two decades of forming my own entity, the company called Data Direct. On a personal level, married early in life, I was so fortunate to have my life partner with me in all my ups and downs of life. God's been extremely kind, blessed us with two lovely children. One is a young 28-year-old, and my daughter is 21, pursuing her education in Boston in her final year of college. And we have a beautiful family here in Dubai. Business keeps me busy of course, with some other passions which I can speak about as we move on in this podcast.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  02:19

Wonderful. Rajiv, I'm going to dive directly into the conversation and I wanted to start off exploring an entrepreneurial mindset with you. I define an entrepreneurial mindset as someone who has the ability to manage risks, who is creating value and above all, who is resourceful when faced with problems. So here's what I wanted to know, how did you get the courage to create your own identity even though you came from a business family? 

Rajiv Dalmia  02:55

Sometimes you don't realise when you're growing up in your childhood, there are lots of moments which create a very big impact on your mind. Your thinking gets created or moulded with those incidents which actually pivot you into a specific career or a role in your life. And being from a business family, for example, my father had his own business and obviously being an entrepreneur himself, we were always in that mindset or situations where there were always risks being taken. We could see him taking risks. I could see my brothers, my uncles. So we were always in a risk environment, taking risks – either getting good results or failure. But always in that kind of waves of excitement. Sometimes we used to wonder why are we living in this kind of risk environment. We had friends who have a professional background, their parents doing jobs, whether banks or whatever, and having very set careers. They used to think that, "We will do our college, we will get into a job, a professional life." I sometimes used to think that's very interesting, very easy, more stable, you can enjoy life, you can travel, get your leave from the company you're working for, and have a balanced kind of a life. 

Rajiv Dalmia  04:12

But then I tried to do that. I'll tell you honestly, in the middle, when we were all getting into our careers, I got an opportunity to work somewhere. And I realised I actually can't report to anyone, my father or my brother who was part of the joint family business. I had this issue of reporting. I just couldn't do it. I couldn't do the politics in an organisation where I worked. I felt that I'm not cut out to do a job though I wanted to, to tell you honestly because when I started from scratch, I didn't have anything. So I said, "There is no way I can start a business." That put me against a wall and listen, "I have to do something of my own." And what do I do? Because I had moved out of my family business for some reasons, which are very, very personal, I had a lot of conflicts. And then I started something totally of my own. I was very egoistic. I didn't want to do what they were doing. I said, "I'll make it on my own." And I knew it's a long journey because they had a set business, they had a set industry. I didn't take anything from my parents, from my father. I decided, "Let's start from scratch."

Rajiv Dalmia  05:12

And yeah, when I look back, I see that that was the best decision I made because I created my own journey, whatever it is, big or small is not the issue. But when I talk to my parents, my father, they are still alive and healthy luckily. My brother, my uncles, they used to discuss with me earlier. "Why are you doing this? Why don't you just stay in the family and do what we are doing? Be happy, just take whatever you have, and just live a life. Why would you want to just go to another country?" They were not supportive of this. But now they respect me for that. They look up to me obviously, because I'm the only guy who did it out of the entire family of my father and his brothers and his children, their children, and my brothers, my siblings. So yeah, it's interesting. That's been a bit of an entrepreneurial mindset, which I didn't realise I had. But I think circumstances forced me to take those risks. 

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  06:06

That story really gives us an insight into how an entrepreneurial mindset has someone be resourceful, manage uncertainty, take risks, as well as then create value, and you've done a great job, Rajiv. Congrats to you. Your current business actually does work in the BPO industry, what was that journey all about? 

Rajiv Dalmia  06:29

Our family business is in the oil and gas industry. And we were thinking of expanding that in the international markets. So when I started my business journey after my Masters' from Australia, I was constantly travelling to Indonesia in '92, to set up something there. And I think I missed out on a lot of those holidays when we had those breaks in the university. When my friends were travelling and seeing the country and enjoying the holidays, I was travelling to Indonesia on short three-day trips, trying to set up whatever I could, and trying to monetise my education funding from my family, which actually resulted in me to then set up myself in Indonesia, in Jakarta, for a couple of years.

Rajiv Dalmia  07:12
But then, for whatever reasons, the venture which we were getting into did not sort of fructify into a successful business. It failed, let's put it like that. I was very young, that time I was probably 26 or 27 years, still kind of seeing how to accept failures. Then I was sent into another venture, into Nepal. Again, it was a family decision, they decided we want to get into manufacturing of audio and video cassettes. That time, that was what was in the industry, the CDs had not even come into play.

Again, it was a very disruptive kind of an environment, media was going through its own challenges. I said, "Okay, fine, let me try that." I went into that, that did not succeed. We invested into some technology that sort of changes very quickly. I was in Nepal for nearly a year and a half, two years. It didn't work and I was back to zero. I came back to India, and I didn't know what to do. So I asked my family, "Do you have anything for me? Should I go back into the oil and gas business within the family in Delhi?" So they were not very supportive of that, they didn't need me in that business. They said, "No, I don't think so you have any role to play?.You've been out of the country for a few years so decide what you want to do." That was a bit of a bummer. I was against the wall. I had my first child at that time. So my wife and I thought, "Listen, let's get out of India. This is not the place to be in." I anyway had travelled abroad, I was trying to look for opportunities. And that's how I came to Dubai in '96 to '97. I was working for somebody in the oil and gas industry because that's the experience I had. 

And then I just left my family business to start my own journey, not realising that I would become an entrepreneur one day again. The three to four years I worked in Dubai, in UAE, for somebody, that was a time I realised that I just can't work for somebody. It's not my mindset. I can't take orders from somebody. Not happy with the kind of remuneration I'm getting, that's not my lifestyle. I wanted to earn. I was ambitious. I want to grow. I want to network. I want to travel. I want to do a lot of things. I had a lot of fire, and I just couldn't work for somebody, that's for sure. I wanted to be a leader and lead basically. 

Rajiv Dalmia  09:19

That obviously resulted in my friction with my bosses, with the owners of the company. So I left again, with nothing in hand. I didn't know what to do. And I didn't want to get into the oil and gas business in 2001 to 2002, that was the time I started. So I just spoke to some friends in India. And I said, "Listen, I don't want to come back. Can you help me? What do we do? I'm sitting here. I've been here four, five years. I love Dubai. Great place. I find myself living here for the next maybe 10 to 20 years more. Suggest me something." So I had some friends into the outsourcing business. They were doing direct mail. That time it was an industry which was really something in the whole marketing industry. That's how I started, we ran a mailroom operation. So my clients that time were automotive companies or tobacco companies where I used to do surveys, get the forms, entry, and this was all for the Dubai market here. And then I used to outsource it to India for them to do the work and then charge the arbitrage. So that's how I survived, I started from a one small office apartment where I used to live. In that I had a small room and that's the journey I started off with. 

Rajiv Dalmia  10:24

And then I set up a company here of course, with some partners, which I didn't have funding in so I just borrowed some money. They took an equity in the company and then I realised that I sold myself very cheap because I was doing all the hard work, I was burning, but I was giving them the profits. So I said, this won't go for too long. We had more than two three partners. I managed, I bought them out but I could not buy them out completely so I had another partner. That was in 2005, Data Direct had two partners – me and one more person. That's it. 

Rajiv Dalmia  10:54

And then another phase of our journey started from there till about 2014, nine years of extremely hard-working, travelling in the region, understanding the markets, knowing the industry, how it's evolving. That was time BPO was really coming up in this part of the world and I did not know what I'm getting into. But I was lucky, I would say, to large extent I was able to network very well. And that's my biggest. Friends, which helped me win business from friends. They trusted me, they said, "If we give anything to Rajiv, he will deliver." Now I did not know the industry so I had to hire good people. And I could not afford good people because they come at a high price, and we were not in that situation to pay high salaries. So I used to get people from India, train them, get them at low salaries, but where I could afford and they also wanted a break in this part of the world.

Rajiv Dalmia  11:44

So we had a good team initially, which brought me from Level A to Level B. When we got to that level, I needed more experienced people, they cost me more, so I had to get another set of people. And that's how the company started growing from literally one person. Today, we have 1,000 people working for me in UAE today. And that is in whole GCC in Saudi, Oman and Bahrain. And of course, we're looking at expanding into some other markets in Africa also as we move on. So it's been about 20 years of this growth, overcoming challenges, managing people, getting your cash flows in place, paying people their salaries on time, getting good reputation in the market. Now we have about five or six different verticals within the BPO industry, which we service. So yeah, it's been a very interesting growth story, I would say. 

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  12:37

Yeah, absolutely. And what have you keep the faith on the bad days, when you had all those challenges? 

Rajiv Dalmia  12:34

I had nothing to look back and go back to. So for me, it was only one way forward. And even today, I believe that if you don't innovate, if you don't grow, if you feel that, "Listen, this is it, I want to stop here. Let me just maintain my lifestyle, or maintain my turnover, or maintain my company," it's surely a recipe for failure. You have to constantly innovate. You have to grow. In business, if you say, "I'm satisfied", then your business is not going to survive. There will be others who will come and take over and your model will crumble. So I think one of the reasons why even today, you have to be competitive. I'm very competitive. I believe that you have to be better than your competition, you have to see the niche markets where you can play, make an impact, fill those gaps - what market needs. That's where the money is. That's where the challenges are. And that's where you need to play your game well.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  13:37

Well, Rajiv, thank you so much for sharing some of your key strategies in making sure that your business is sustainable. And whether it is being open and curious, as an individual who's looking at growth and innovation, right down to how do you stay competitive so that you can identify the key niche market. I think you've done a great dive into entrepreneurship in a foreign country. And kudos to you for that.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  14:06

What is your leadership style? 

Rajiv Dalmia  14:08

There are different kinds of leaders and you don't learn leadership. I mean, I don't read books on leadership, I'll tell you honestly. A lot of people do. I think it's very inherent, it's about your character. One of the big things about leadership is managing people. Because we are in the people's business so it's about selecting the right kind of people, trusting people, letting them do what they want to do but obviously, with accountability. And in business, of course, numbers are very important. If you are a good numbers' guy and if you are a good people's person, I mean, these are the two things I feel leaders should have, apart from obviously risk-taking is a very big thing. So yeah, on a scale of 10, if you put these, I would say seven, eight, typically on all these matters, that is kind of a concoction mix which makes a good leader and makes you successful in some way or the other. And of course, hard work, knowledge, you just keep putting that into the curry, and you get a beautiful dish out of it.   

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  15:07

That's right. If you can just elaborate a little bit more - What about selecting the right people? Did you have a recipe for that? How did you learn that? 

Rajiv Dalmia  15:16

Because I grew from nothing and literally with no funding, as you move up the value chain or as you move up the business, the ladder, you require partnerships, you require clients to give you business, you require people to execute your job. So in all these three relationships, whether it's people whom you hire, whether it's clients who give you business, whether it's suppliers who help you deliver, or the partners who believe in you. But the underlying thing is 'trust'. If you're able to give that feeling to all these associations that “We are there for you, come what may, I'm not going anywhere.” And that's a thing, probably one quality, which helped me to make these relationships, and these relationships basically are the reason why I'm here today. 

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  16:06

Actually, it's really interesting that you've decoded it so beautifully for us because earlier on, you talked about how networking was a key strength. But beyond networking, it was the sense of trust that you created with each and every person that had them go like, "Okay, if we trusted our business with Rajiv, he will deliver it," or "If we work with him, we'll create value together." That's an important piece that people often overlook when they look at networking because networking often becomes all about collecting name cards, and telephone numbers, and it's not about having authentic and sincere relationships, and just being interested in that other person as a person, beyond what they can do to help you.

Rajiv Dalmia  16:51

Yeah, I was always told that "It's always good to focus and be a master-of-one." I don't believe in that strategy at all. I don't believe that we should be a master-of-one, I believe in a jack-of-all-strategies completely. I dabbled in so many things in my life in terms of industries, in terms of businesses, that even today as I work, I want to get into different areas of, let's say, the BPO industry – different verticals within the industry, whether it's banking, healthcare. And the only way you can do that is you can have masters to manage your businesses but you have to be extremely nimble, extremely opportunistic, in terms of identifying opportunities, and moving fast into those. And you can only do that, if you're a jack-of-all; you cannot do it if you're a master-of-one. So one of the reasons I believe you can grow very quickly in life is if you open up your mind to different aspects of businesses. 

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  17:47

You're really pointing to something important, especially in today's world where a lot of things get disrupted very quickly. If you are a specialist and once you get disrupted, what do you do next? But if you're a generalist, you can then start to apply to join two other pieces together and create a fourth or fifth piece. 

Rajiv Dalmia  18:07

I believe this is a survival strategy, let's put it like that and I've been a survivor, to tell you honestly. And one of the reasons why I or Data Direct, my company, has survived. See, we pivoted from direct mail. If I had stuck to that business, I would have been dead long back. I quickly moved out of it because I knew this is a dying business. I pivoted from that into something, and then from there, to something. And today if I look back where I started and where I am today, it's totally different. We sort of moved so many times into so many directions, ultimately finding our own path. But purely because you have to be more farsighted, you have to be on the top of the curve in a way constantly, and be an opportunist in the kind of environment you live in, in terms of what's going to come in.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  18:53

Wonderful. So I'm taking away from our discussion, two key things. One, if we don't pivot and adapt as entrepreneurs, it's a sure death. And number two is that we want to demonstrate or even use some amount of foresight, be innovative, and opportunistic so that we can stay ahead of the curve. 

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  19:15

Let's now move to the next topic. And that's about crisis and resilience. And I define anything which is a setback as a crisis. What's that most critical crisis that you've ever had in your life? What have you found to be the most enduring quality for managing crisis? 

Rajiv Dalmia  19:34

Crisis can come anytime, to anyone, and it can come in any form. It can come in the form of financial crisis, it can come in the form of a health crisis, it can come in the form of a personal family crisis. We have to be resilient and brave to face it. And in my life, of course, and in everyone's life, I'm sure we've all gone through these situations. And I think everyone survived. It's not that people haven't survived. It's just that have you come out of it stronger, or have you learned something out of it and ensured that the next time something like that has hit you, it has been a smoother transition out of that crisis or not.

Rajiv Dalmia  20:15

I'll tell you in our business, for example, we've had several situations where we as a service company, dependent on our vendors, suppliers on technology in some form delivered to our end-customers. Being an outsourcing company, we have to work through vendors. Now I remember one incident when we were just sort of stabilising ourselves in 2008 to 2009. One of my vendors, where we again, had a huge amount of trust completely sabotaged the project of ours, which was a very large project, which would have pivoted us into a different level, in terms of recognition in the industry. I was held at ransom with that vendor, basically kind of blackmail. 

Rajiv Dalmia  20:56

I had to take a decision what to do, I didn't have the funds to give him and he wanted to make use of that situation. It was kind of a business nightmare. Anyway, so I had to take a very strong call, it was a crisis for me because the client was a government institution, and I was living in Dubai, this vendor was in India. We did not know what to do. If anything had to happen, it would be my neck and the company would have gone bust completely. I had to take a big risk to cut off my trades with this guy completely, and in a very, very short period of time to get another company who could take over this project and help me out of the trouble, and all this with, obviously, legal complications going on. But we managed that. It was a big crisis and it was a turning point. I could have just given up completely and gone back 5, 10 years of my life. I said, "No, we can't do that. And let's take it head on."  We fought, we won because we were right, we were ethical, and we delivered to the customer with full satisfaction. That gave me a lot of strength that, in fact, made me set up this whole business division of my own without dependent on a vendor like this. So actually, the threat gave me an opportunity and that made a big strength out of Data Direct, as a company. This crisis made me stronger and even today, after 15 years, or 14 years of that, I look back and said, "I was very fortunate to get that situation in my life, which had made a big impact and added a lot of friends to me as well as the company." 

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  22:22

I'm just finishing up my book on crisis resilience. I talk about exactly that, which is that in every crisis, you get an opportunity. But whether you look at that situation as a crisis, and become a victim and fall, or you see it as an opportunity, really depends on your perception. That's what it was for you because you were willing to take that risk, stand by your values, which is you're not going to be blackmailed by someone with unethical behaviour. You had promised something to your client, and you were going to deliver it. And that had you move forward in spite of knowing how risky it was, and how uncertain the future looked at that moment, right? 

Rajiv Dalmia  23:13

Yeah, the fact was that we couldn't go back, we had to move forward, come what may. So I think that is where the leadership comes into play a lot. When you have nothing to lose, you only play to win. These kinds of situations actually can come again, I'll tell you, life is like this. You tend to play it better, and you know, as you move up the ladder, you become wiser so you tend to kind of put things in place better, you select people better. I think wisdom comes over a period of time; experience comes with age if we keep learning.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  23:46

That's true. If there is one thing that you'd like to tell our young listeners, how would you advise them about managing crisis?

Rajiv Dalmia  23:55

Patience is very important when it comes to crisis. Decision-making is extremely important, you have to take the harder route, unfortunately. And that's where the success comes in. If you take the easier route, it's not going to be giving you the right results. If you have to take a left or a right, and you come to a T-junction and you know, the easier is on the left, think taking the right, I'm telling you. That's where you will find success.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  24:20

Excellent. So someone also told me once before, "Pain now, for gain later".

Rajiv Dalmia  24:26

You should be willing to bear the pain, I'm telling you. Without pain, you don't get success.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  24:32

All right. 

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  24:36

Where are you in your spiritual journey?

Rajiv Dalmia  24:38

Very interesting, Ramesh. I used to be extremely spiritual when I started my life, early childhood, you can say and growing up. And I don't know, but actually I lost my spirituality during the crisis or prolonged period of my struggle. People say when you struggle, you become more spiritual. But for me, it was different, I actually lost my spirituality during that time. I stopped believing in God. I just concentrated on myself, hard work is the only way forward and I sort of lost trust on my faith. Everybody. I said, "It's only me who can help myself." And in that journey, I disconnected myself from being spiritual, honestly speaking. But now that I've come to the stage in my life where I know I have had a bit of a full circle, and I think back of those days when I was spiritual when I read a lot, when I used to follow my religion being a Hindu and the teachings and the principle of Hinduism, which I've read a lot. Now I feel it's time for me to rethink. 

Rajiv Dalmia  25:43

These are things which make up a person, the personality. And to a large extent, what I am today is because of those teachings, which I didn't realise I was inculcating as I was growing up in my childhood, taught to us by our parents, and the environment, the society I used to live in, which was very spiritual. And now I feel if I can contribute that to my children, or people around me, in whatever way. It need not be through discourses, or teaching, just a lifestyle of simplicity, of trust, caring, giving because Hinduism is a way of life, it's not a religion according to me. And this is what I want to now do, I am doing a lot of that with my family specifically, and some friends, where we spend time in talking about these things, and doing things related to this in whatever way. It's very nice. It's very relaxing. It gives me a peace of mind, whether I meditate, or I help people in whatever way. I also feel I'm in a business but if I run 1,000 families and I make sure that they get their salaries on time, they are able to support their families further back home, wherever they are from – it’s a kind of spirituality. Obviously, I run a business, I'm making profits and all, it is fine. But honestly, I am actually contributing in some way, and I'm being spiritual. And I would love to do that continuously in a very fair manner so that I can help these families live a decent life. I believe it's a long way to go. Spirituality is an endless journey. And let's see if I can make that a part of my well-being and my life, it'd be great.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  27:26

That's interesting, because what you talked about in terms of it being a way of life and making it part of your lifestyle for you, given that you're an entrepreneur. If you're running your business and how you run your business is a big part of you, even down to ensuring that salaries are paid on time becomes "you do your duty" - Everyone has a duty and they're fulfilling on that duty. And that can be a spiritual thing too, because that's what's going to make the world work. It's when people are not doing their duty that sometimes we have all the messes around.

Rajiv Dalmia  28:00

I can only say that if the whole ecosystem, or nature has to stay afloat, everyone has to do their duties. If everyone does their duty well, the world would be a much better place to live in and the whole ecosystem will be in balance.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  28:16

That's right. 

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  28:21

Do you think it's possible to live a simple life in today's world?

Rajiv Dalmia  28:24

Yeah, absolutely. I think simplicity is a very personal statement of an individual or a way of thinking of an individual. Beyond a certain level, money loses its value, then obviously, power comes into play, and self-actualisation on the Maslow's theory of needs as we all know. I do look up to people who have achieved a lot in their life from materialistic or a professional standpoint, and still lead a very simple life. And again, that's not about health or materialistic pleasures, it's more about passion. If you have passions in life, you will pursue that. Now, when you pursue your passions whether it's, let's say, classical music, which I like. And I learned that whether it is any kind of a sport, which I play tennis, you tend to run lesser towards materialism, and start pursuing those interests of your life which make you lead a balanced life. Now, the moment it is balanced, it seems to become simpler because you are not running after just one thing which is, let's say, as a businessman, I'm just not trying to make more money every day, setting up more businesses every day. I am taking time out of my 24 hours. I sleep well. I spend my time into my passions which I'm doing so I'm balancing my life. The more I balanced my life and I continue to do that, I know I am living a simple life. I do socialise. I have a lot of friends. I love going to parties. Everything is a part of our life. But I think I love living a simple life. I love eating simple food and wearing simple clothes. I might have hundreds of shirts in my wardrobe but I will look at those five shirts every day in front of me, and typically I would wear one of those five. Same with my friends, I may have hundreds of friends, but I would just pick up the phone and call up those five people. So I think that's the way I define simplicity.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  30:18

That is profound because you can bring simplicity to your life in different ways. And you've just shared an interesting way to look at it. So what is 'Thriving' for you? 

Rajiv Dalmia  30:29

So interesting, "Thriving". Ambition, growth, passion, achieving what you wanted to do. If you're following these things, you will thrive. And love. At the end of the day, you want to be loved, and you want to give love. And for me, my family is the foremost thing and I thrive because I just want to see them happy. I want to see them successful, my kids, my wife, to be as beautiful as she is even today, to always be that in our heart. That is thriving for me. I live for that.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  31:01

Awesome. Thank you Rajiv, for really being candid and sharing with us some of your wisdom acquired with experience. We've enjoyed having you here.

Rajiv Dalmia  31:10

Thank you very much, Ramesh. A pleasure talking to you after so long. I think with this, you probably know me more than you've ever known me. And I hope we can meet soon and celebrate our friendship.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  31:21

Yeah, I hope so, too. And you're right. We never had the chance to have such authentic conversation when we were both graduate students, pursuing our MBA at Monash. 

Rajiv Dalmia  31:32

Because life had just begun for me, I didn't even know half of the things when I'm talking to you right now. Life has taken us through our own journeys. But yeah, God's been kind and where I am today, I never knew I would be here. Thanks for your time and getting me on this forum platform. I'm pretty honoured. I didn't realise that I can add much value but I hope I can and people who are here, all the best to them. I wish them good luck.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  31:56

Thank you very much.

Ho Lai Yun  31:57

We hope you've enjoyed listening to Rajiv’s story and the business and life insights that he shared with Dr. Ramesh. Be sure to join us again here on our next Thriving in the Age of Disruption episode where Dr. Ramesh will be chatting with dynamic mother and daughter pair, Ms. Susan Lay and Ms. Cartin Ong, who are based in Australia.

Bio
Mr. Rajiv Dalmia
Founder & Chairman, Data Direct Group
Angel Investor, Inflection Point Ventures