The brainchild of brothers Anil & Vivek Singh, the Mumbai headquartered Procam International turned road running, which hardly had any takers in India until the turn of the century, into the fastest-growing sporting activity in the country.
“We believe this to be among very few published case studies on mass-participation sports from anywhere in the world,” said the study’s co-authors, Professor Mukesh Sud and noted Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad alumni and ultra-marathoner Sunil Chainani.
The study discusses Procam’s successful approach to introducing large-scale participatory sporting events in a country dominated by spectator sports, triggering a running revolution that spawned over 1,600 timed events and turned running into a USD 400 million industry, annually.
Procam’s four global running properties — the Tata Mumbai Marathon (established in 2004), the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon (2005), the TCS World 10K Bengaluru (2008) & the Tata Steel Kolkata 25K (2014) — are among the world’s most prestigious races and have transformed India into a global running hub, attracting the participation of the sport’s biggest names.
The study, first published by the premier Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad and also taught at the Ashoka University, highlights the importance of having a long-term vision at the start of an entrepreneurial journey, indicates the need for an entrepreneurial mindset in tackling challenges that start-ups confront in the early years of their establishment, identifies the challenges involved in establishing and growing a brand and helps understand the sports promotion mix and its five crucial components.
“We are honoured that our work in the field of distance running in India has been recognised as an inspiration and a successful case study by IIM (Ahmedabad) and Harvard Business Publishing Education which prides itself on delivering the best-in-class learning experiences, to develop leaders who are ready for a changing world,” said Vivek Singh, Jt. MD, Procam International. “We are thankful to the case study’s co-authors, Prof Mukesh Sud and Sunil Chainani, for their wonderful work in capturing Procam’s pioneering journey,” he added.
Procam’s events have also encouraged millions across the country to embrace a healthy lifestyle, provided a springboard for Indian athletes to make their mark on the global stage, and together form one of India’s largest sports philanthropy platforms, having raised over INR 4,100 million for more than 800 NGOs.
