The Ramayana teaches many entrepreneurial lessons. Some of the key lessons include: having a clear vision and cause worth fighting for; being armed with knowledge, strategy, intelligence, skills and commitment; and consulting subordinates and allowing their opinions while also treating everyone equally. Additionally, it emphasizes standing courageously in the face of adversity, having a future-oriented plan, and always following a code of ethics even if it requires personal sacrifice.

1. Ramayana:
The Epic of Entrepreneurial Lessons

2. • Ramayana, the sacred book is read at most of the houses
during the Dussehra and Diwali festival.
• This month is celebrated as Ramayana month and Ramleela is
played in northern part of the country.
• The book describes the heroic efforts of Lord Rama to kill the
evil demon Ravana.
• Though it is a religious book, it also teaches us management
and leadership lessons.
• An entrepreneur can implement these lessons to see his startup
grow as a successful enterprise.

3. • 10. Make sure you have a clear vision and cause
Ravana‟s brother Vibhishan, who had come to
Rama‟s side questioned him, “How will you defeat
this huge army with your limited resources?” The
reply which Rama gave is the greatest lesson ever
for a leader. He said, “You have to make sure you
have a clear vision, and a cause worth fighting for.”
In the case of Ramayana, Rama‟s cause was to
rescue his beloved Sita and the vision was to defeat
the evil forces.

4. 9. 4 foremost ingredients of Entrepreneurship:
Character, Courage, Ethics, Valor
Rama told to Vibhishan that the four wheels of the chariot
are character, courage, ethics, and valor. Character is the
most essential thing for a leader. As an entrepreneur, you
must know who you are and what you stand for and
communicate the same to your people through actions rather
than words. Leadership and respect doesn‟t come from a
business card. It is the ethics, the value system you embody
that does the needful. Courage is the ability to take
unpopular decisions, while valor is the courage to defend
those very decisions.

5. • 8. Be a storehouse of strength, energy, and
passion
Rama said that the horses of the chariot are
strength, energy, and passion. In a battle and so in
your entrepreneurial venture, you must have the
strength to discriminate between the right and
wrong, and the zeal and perseverance to keep
working towards your goal.

6. 7.Brand is bigger than the "owner" of the
brand
• A big challenge on the way to Lanka was to cross the southern sea.
People suggested inscribing the name “Rama” on the stone and
then throwing it. Surprisingly it worked and a construction of the
bridge started by monkeys „Nal‟ and „Neel‟. After sometime Rama
decided to help and he threw a stone in the ocean. To everyone‟s
amazement, it sank. Everyone realized that it happened because the
stone was not inscribed with “Rama”.
• Lord Rama was confident that he does not need to use his "brand"
as he was THE "brand" and tried to repeat the magic. But it did not
work. It was not "branded" with "Rama".
• This explains that a brand is always bigger than the owner of the
brand. An entrepreneur should feel good when people recognize
him by the name his company. He should feel happy that his brand
is becoming bigger than him.
•

7. 6. Be armed with
knowledge, strategy, intelligence, skills, commitmen
t
These are the weapons that helped Rama win the
mammoth battle and would help you in this exciting
and demanding journey.
Rama said to his army before entering into the
battle, “Arm yourself with these and no war will be
lost.” After the battle, his army—the group of men
and monkeys defeated the heavily equipped Ravana
and his forces.

8. 5. Consult subordinates on important matters and
allow them to give their opinions freely
When Vibhishan defected, Rama took him under his
protection. He then had a talk with the various army
chiefs some of whom disagreed with Rama. Instead
of punishing them, Rama got them to accept his
decision.
Everybody felt that their opinions had been heard
and that their objections had been clarified.
Empowerment of subordinates to question his
decisions was a key and unique quality of Rama
which contrasted with Ravana who never allowed
anybody to contradict him.

9. 4. Treat everyone equally
• Rama was a prince who interacted freely with the
people. Rama did not have any biases regarding
developing relationships with people of a lower
social status. Thus he accepted the hospitality of the
chief of the fisher folk and allied with the forest
tribes who were out of the light of normal society. In
fact, Rama gave them positions of equality.
• This was not only due to the war conditions since he
maintained the same relationship when he won the
war. Not surprisingly, he received great loyalty from
all.

10. 3. Stand courageously in the face of great
adversity
Following Sita's kidnap, Rama wandered poor and
ruined in the forests searching for Sita.
The Ramayana is full of touching details of Rama's
sadness and his memory of Sita. Yet this grief did
not prevent him from searching for partners even
when the enemy was unknown.
Rama maintained his courage even at the darkest
hours and in doing so inspired his army to not only
continue the unequal fight, but also win it.

11. 2. Have a future oriented plan
• The objective of Rama was future oriented. He was
ordered to stay away from Ayodhya for 14 years in a
forest. This long term actions gave Rama enough
time to plan, organize resource and strike against
Ravana at an apt time so that mission could be
completed without failure.

12. 1. Follow a code of ethics and be ready to
sacrifice to follow it
Rama brought ethical decision making in all areas of
his life. There are many leaders who make a sacrifice
once in order to build credibility and then use it to
make unethical decisions later relying on the
knowledge that their initial sacrifice would make
them immune to attacks.
When Ravana paraded to battle on the first day
without sufficient preparations and was rendered
weaponless by Rama, he was allowed to return to his
fort because Rama followed the code of loyalty that
an unarmed enemy should not be attacked.