The Indian media industry’s growth is synonymous with the growth of some media entrepreneurs – be it visionary Subhash Chandra or UTV’s Ronnie Screwvala, who as new entrants tested this domain 15 to 20 years back, understood it, ploughed it, scaled up and created media enterprises. Subhashji still owns and controls the Zee Group, Ronnie is in the process of selling most of his stake to Disney and continues to lead the group. One media entrepreneur that every media owner and entrepreneur watches closely is Network 18’s Raghav Bahl. From a small production company Television18, Bahl and Network 18 have come a long way to being a diversified media conglomerate with CNBC TV 18, Awaaz, CNN-IBN, IBN 7, Colors, AETN, Home shop 18, Forbes, Infomedia, in.com, moneycontrol.com and stakes in yatra.com, bookmyshow.com etc in its kitty.
The story of Bahl and Network 18 has been scripted in the last 12 years and to me, the coarchitect of this creation has been the very entrepreneurial Haresh Chawla. Most people are known to call him ‘Harish’. Haresh has been driving Network 18’s foray into newer ventures and helped shape and build Bahl’s vision. When the news of Haresh quitting Network 18 broke on exchange4media.com, a top-ranking media owner called me to ask what had happened and in the same breath, remarked that Haresh used to run Network 18 with Bahl’s blessings and support as an owner-entrepreneur. From being just a small entity when Haresh joined 12 odd years back to being a successful GEC player, having stakes in almost every medium, Haresh led wealth creation for Network 18. He will be remembered for many achievements and milestones at Network 18, but according to me, the two things that will always define Haresh’s Network 18 dream run are:
1. Building a great talented team. Today, Network 18 has the best bench strength of talent possible. Would you credit K and J (Abha Kapoor) or the growth that attracted good talent?
2. Haresh would take big risks and make them count. The ability to execute big projects like an “entrepreneurial manager” and co-create wealth for his enterprise and himself sets him apart.
Haresh’s favorite two words, I am told, are “Kahan Jayega? (Where will you go?)” This, while referring to colleagues or team members when they wanted to leave or discussed other options. “Kahan jayega” was followed by “Kya karega, kaise karega? (What will you do and how?)”
Another word used frequently by Haresh is “Raje”, a very affectionate manner of referring to a colleague or friend. A lot of people have called me to ask why Haresh quit and of course I do not know and refuse to speculate. In the words of another media owner, Haresh used to run Network 18 like a maalik, so what happened? The honest answer is that I do not know.
Is it the quest for greater wealth creation that made Haresh go away? Did Haresh want a larger pie of the companies he helped co-create? Whether it was Viacom18 or other ventures, Haresh got Network 18 into the right business with the right partners, right bets and at the right scale. His ambition attracted the right people and was fuelled and guided by Bahl’s vision, unflinching faith in Haresh’s ability to execute and motivate team members to take on big things. Haresh, along with Sameer Manchanda and Rajdeep Sardesai (and of course Bahl) helped create CNN-IBN and IBN 7.
Everyone wants to know what Haresh will do now. An entrepreneur will always be an entrepreneur. I expect Haresh to incubate ideas, entrepreneurs and business in digital media, entertainment domains and get back to wealth creation for himself at the centre and his partners. Maybe Haresh will turn into a venture capitalist with mentoring and execution throw in.
Haresh is leaving Network 18 when it has a certain momentum and a pool of leadership with leaders like B Sai Kumar (Group COO Network 18) and many others of various operating businesses. Every change brings freshness and may be Haresh knows it is time to move on and begin a new show. Maybe he is inspired by Khatron ka Khiladi and wants to take bigger risks.
Bahl has been able to nurture and groom talent and today Network 18 can attract talent from anywhere. What Bahl will have to watch out for is whether a new leader understands Network 18’s DNA, whether he or she earns the respect of the leadership team, should this person be an internal candidate or external, etc. These are crucial decisions and Bahl could use this transition period to up the ante either to acquire a regional news channel (one hears the buzz about Eenadu and Mukesh Ambani), make even bigger bets and partnerships. Haresh has done what not many people manage to do - leave behind a healthy ship (though we can argue about Network 18 being over-leveraged and its debt being huge) and poised for even bigger growth.
Network 18 looks like it is an ‘Entrepreneur in Action’ (EIA) laboratory instead of ‘Entrepreneurship in Residence’ (EIR). Now, it’s up to the EIA to create EIR.
As W J Cameron wisely said, ‘Money never starts an idea; it is the idea that starts the money.’
