Ronnie’s first foray was Cable TV in India and for the first two years of that journey he found no
takers and only advise was to treat it as a failed start up and move on, but with him staying at it he
was credited with having pioneered Cable TV for all of India.
Entrepreneurship is about finding and seizing opportunities and moving on from failures and Ronnie
saw an opportunity in toothbrush manufacturing and after many setbacks went on to build one of the
largest toothbrush operations in India, at a time where there was no eco-system for PE Funding or
bank debt to start ups. The other opportunity was TV Home Shopping but it was well before its time
and was a big failure, but not enough for him to question if he should stick it out as an entrepreneur.
Ronnie went on to build a media and entertainment company – UTV, where post many pivots and
four almost near bankruptcies and 15 years of focussed work with strong co-founders and a large
team, it scaled to a size spanning all aspects of Content and Platform and then he divested UTV to
The Walt Disney Co in 2012.
Perception in most cases is larger than reality and so in spite of so many failures, Newsweek termed
him the Jack Warner of India, Esquire rated him one of the 75 most influential people of the 21st
century and Fortune as Asia’s 25 most powerful.
Having lived it and seen the misconception that it’s all about quick success and that failure is to frown
on – he has authored 2 books : ‘Dream With Your Eyes Open’ as his commitment to champion
entrepreneurship and evangelize failure, and ‘Skill It, Kill It’ which aims to pull back the curtain on
the professional world to give you an insider’s view of the ‘invisible’ skills sought and rewarded by
global businesses, top recruiters and leading CEOs.
Ronnie got the term “cat with nine lives” attached to him by colleagues and peers for the number of
times he had failed, but reflecting on his setbacks and counting on his main virtue that success can
never be timed and staying the course is the only option, Ronnie in his second innings decided to
deepen his commitment to making India a better place through a focus on two of the largest sunrise
sectors – Online Education & the not-for-profit rural / social space. He is Co-Founder & Chairman of
upGrad which zeros in on the massive Online Education market and the fact that Learning for every
working professional is now a lifelong commitment. He, along with his wife Zarina, are the Co-
Founders of The Swades Foundation, which is committed to empower one million lives in rural India
every 5-7 years through a 360 degree model spanning Water, Sanitation, Health, Education and
Livelihood to lift them out of poverty permanently.
As a hobby and passion Ronnie loves to tell stories that must to told via movies with his new brand
RSVP and he owns 3 sports teams under the brand U Mumba in Kabaddi, Volleyball and Football
even though he has never played any of the sports himself.