Episode 20/ Full Interview: Dev Roy on returning home to India as a reverse migrant entrepreneur

Published November 14, 2021Dev Roy's career has seen more twists and turns than a whodunnit. It took him from India to the United States in the early 1990s, one of many in that country's brain drain, and from there to London, where he became the head of derivatives trading at Barclays up until 2008. Seeing the writing on the wall for the financial industry, he decided to pack up and return to India to become an entrepreneur, following in the footsteps of his own father thirty years earlier. He started a government services company, followed by an edtech company, built a chain of dialysis clinics and then started yet another edtech company. Some of his ventures paid off, some didn't. In the process, he had to unlearn and relearn many lessons about innovation and commerce in the developed versus developing world. After selling his most recent company, he has now gone in house and possibly full circle, heading innovation at Byju's, the multi-billion dollar Indian edtech giant that has seemingly come out of nowhere in the past decade. He is based in London. Recorded June 4, 2021.Show Notes:05:47 "The flight to America: the great Indian Brain Drain of the eighties and nineties.”13:12 "A banker sees the writing on the wall in 2008."16:22 "BRIC -- a Bloody Ridiculous Investment Concept."17:59 "Going back to India with three investment theses."20:08 "The first venture: providing services to rural populations ancillary to government services."23:13 "The second venture: the underserved dialysis market in Indian healthcare."28:35 "Why the first venture failed."30:34 "Lessons from the first venture which were then applied to the second venture."33:31 "Cracking the nut: his first entrepreneurial success."40:00 "Next up, the Indian education sector was ripe for disruption."42:57 "Innovating for the local market."45:30 "How the pandemic affected Indian entrepreneurs."48:15 "Fundraising challenges faced by entrepreneurs in India."51:53 "The financing difficulty faced by entrepreneurs innovating for the local market."56:50 "What lessons can the Indian government learn from China in terms of creating a more business-friendly company?"1:03:15 "What are some ways the Indian government can reduce entrepreneurial red tape in India?" Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.