Lunch can wait… please don’t hurry… are you hungry?’’ The great JRD Tata asked Lakshmi Venkataraman Venkatesan. He was 86 at the time. Lakshmi, a young woman brimming with ideas, was passionately narrating the story of a young, underprivileged entrepreneur. JRD was all ears. “Take your time… his story is more important.”
That one meeting changed everything. JRD came on board, and Lakshmi’s dream—Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust—took off in 1992.
Today, BYST continues to provide a solid platform for young people in the country to convert potentially promising business ideas into profitable enterprises. BYST’s ‘Grampreneurs’ are offered not just financial support, but mentoring, training and global networking opportunities. As JRD once said, “If we touch one life, it has the potential to transform the lives of a billion people.”
This year, I was invited to be on the jury selecting winners for the annual BYST Awards. The process is meticulous and thorough. Not being an entrepreneur or a corporate person, I said ‘yes’ for selfish reasons: the exposure to young, ambitious minds was irresistible. And, as anyone who has met Lakshmi will agree, no one says no to her!
The BYST’s success story is all thanks to one woman’s dedication and determination to translate the original vision into a reality. For the past 30 years, BYST has supported more than 50,000 entrepreneurs, who have collectively generated wealth worth Rs5,000 crore and created five lakh jobs. As I read the detailed profiles of 11 shortlisted finalists, I marvelled at the hunger, hard work and humility that had driven these remarkable individuals to keep at it and achieve their goals.
I first met Lakshmi over a Zoom call. The jury was meeting in Delhi to scrutinise the shortlist and come up with the winners who would be honoured at a prestigious ceremony. Two hours of intense discussions later, I was reeling from the impact of those amazing stories. But it was Lakshmi’s presence that stood out—such control and clarity! Lakshmi studied physics and engineering science at Delhi University and New York University. She was working in a predominantly male environment in the US, before she decided to come back to India.
What Lakshmi underplays is her father’s identity. She is the daughter of R. Venkataraman, former president of India. Coincidentally, former vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar was to be the chief guest at this year’s BYST awards, but the unexpected happened. Days before the function, Dhankhar abruptly resigned.
Undaunted, the unflappable Lakshmi replaced him swiftly with Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. The minister arrived punctually, made a long and engaging speech, reminded Lakshmi of historic connections to BYST (his father, Madhavrao Scindia, was the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony, and his grandfather Jiwajirao Scindia was a close friend of JRD). There were speeches galore as mighty industry leaders shared their personal growth stories and lauded the grampreneurs in the audience.
Over dinner the same night, I was fascinated to hear her vivid account of life inside Rashtrapati Bhavan as first daughter, receiving presidents, prime ministers, kings and queens. She recalled how Mikhail Gorbachev boasted at breakfast that his wife made the best coffee in the world. Venkataraman chuckled, “Wait till you taste my wife’s coffee.”
Lakshmi’s lively recollections of British royalty in residence made me ask why she hasn’t written a book about those years. She smiled, and changed the subject. We quickly went back to discussing her passion project—yes, BYST. I came home remembering the sincere words of gratitude expressed by the exceptional award winners whose lives have changed forever.
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