India’s Biggest Unicorns: How upGrad is solving the skilling gap

RONNIE SCREWVALA has always had an eye for big businesses. Be it selling toothbrushes in the early years of his entrepreneurial journey, setting up a cable TV operation, or building a large media business, Screwvala is a pro at identifying niches and converting them into ventures of scale. However, each time he pinpointed a category/business he believed had potential, he found more naysayers than believers. And he has, time and again, proved them wrong.

Take the media business, for instance. “When I got into the media business, for 10 years I got a bashing from analysts questioning my focus. If you are a content company you should focus on making content, is what they told me. But we built 10 broadcasting channels, an animation studio, a movie studio, a special effects studio and we were also content producers. And we sold our business to Walt Disney Company at $1.4 billion. Today there are 30 media companies, and only a handful are over $40 million,” Screwvala says.