‘LITU incubation centre to be a pioneer in research activities’

Nagpur: From a humble 600 sq ft office space to multiple units, spread over 6 million sq ft across the USA, Loksarang Dinkar Hardas has scripted a phenomenal success story. The US entrepreneur and industrialist is the founder and CEO of ‘LA’s Totally Awesome’, a US consumer products manufacturer, based in Los Angeles, California.

Born into a Marathi family to doctor parents — Dinkar, and Ushatai — on July 16, 1960, in Sitabuldi, Hardas studied at Tilak Vidyalaya, Hadas High School, Mohota Science College, and later did his graduation from Laxminarayan Institute of Technology (LIT) Nagpur. Hardas donated Rs1.5 crore for setting up of Loksarang Hardas Incubation Centre, which will be inaugurated on December 15-16 during LITU’s Global Alumni Meet.

Excerpts from an interview:

Q: What prompted you to donate money for the incubation centre at LITU?

A: Whatever I am today is due to the training I got in LIT. So, I think it’s my moral responsibility to give something back to my alma mater.

Q: Where do you see the LIT incubation centre in the city’s startup scene?

A: Research work always needs a push. From the structure and set up of it, the LIT incubation centre will become a torchbearer in the region as far as promoting research-based activities is concerned.

Q: Promoting research should be a charity or a business proposition?

A: Nothing comes free in this world. I donated Rs1.5 crore for setting up the incubation centre at LITU. But sustenance of the centre cannot be based on charity alone. ‘Kitna bhi paisa daalo sab khatam ho jayega’. So, there has to be a proper business plan to run the centre. We will pump in money till the centre stands on its own. In fact, if a businessman is pumping money into any incubation centre, then in return he would like to earn something from it.

Q: How can that be achieved?

A: I stay in Los Angeles. In the US, there is this successful model of alumni getting involved in promoting startup activities and once the researcher starts earning, he or she has to give some money back to the alumni association. It becomes a win-win situation for all.

Q: LIT incubation centre has some brilliant minds in its fold. What do you expect from them?

A: Any incubation centre needs dedicated people who can work with the students and promote unique research ideas with them. Not all students will come up with unique ideas. Here at LITU we have 150 students in their final year. Even if we get 4-5 good ideas which hold the promise to bring about a positive change in the society, we will feel happy. But there has to be judicious scrutiny of the ideas, only then it will translate into money.

Q: You are a successful businessman in the US. How do you aim to give back to the city?

A: Look, there are different ways of doing something tangible for the place where you have grown up. We have donated Rs1.5 crore for the construction of the IMA building, and Rs75 lakh to Hadas for expansion. Also, something is in the pipeline for Mohota Science College too, but nothing has been finalised yet.

Q: How much being a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) swayamsevak helped you?

A: As a swayamsevak, the virtues of integrity, hard work, perseverance and dedication were instilled in me at a young age. Those have stood me in good stead all through my life.

Promoting Gurukul Style of teaching in US

A big believer is family values, Loksarang and his wife Dolly have built a Siddhivinayak Temple in Brea, California, in 2009 and are promoting Gurukul Style of teaching at the temple. They have also built a Brea Performing Art Centre, which promotes Indian culture in the US. Dolly, who looks after the temple and centre, says: “We bought a 117-year-old church and built Siddhivinayak Temple on its land in 2009. Chinmaya Mission runs a proper school from Std VI to intermediate, at the temple campus based on Gurukul style of teaching.”