ET 40 Under 40 Awards: When Wockhardt Hospitals boss reiterated Winston Churchill’s words on success & failure

A young night, a younger league of winners & moments of inspiration marked the ET 40 Under Forty awards celebration.

When you have an idea, the world listens, and you can make a difference. That is a belief held firmly by Joshua Coombes, the keynote speaker at the ET 40 Under Forty awards hosted in Mumbai on August 28. His conviction was one that resonated strongly with the young achievers in the room, who not only bond as fellow members of the success and fortune club, but also over an unwavering will to be the next generation of changemakers.

In its most skeletal form, Coombes’s story is a simple one. He is a UK-based hairdresser, who spends his offduty hours giving complimentary haircuts to the homeless. But pause before you ask, “How’s a hair-cut going to change anyone’s life?” A single look at the before and after pictures of Coombes’s happy “customers” will be answer enough.


It all started about four years ago for Coombes, when he saw homeless people on the streets as he walked home from work every night and started to feel a bit helpless. He tried to do his bit for them. “Maybe offer someone a bit of money or have a conversation with someone or buy them a coffee,” he said. But he knew the way forward when he offered to give a homeless man a haircut.

The effect was almost instantaneous as the man looked at himself in the mirror post the cut. “His shoulders opened up. He was a little more confident,” Coombes, whose mission is now a full-time project, said.

“I believe in making money, in pursuing success,” Coombes said. But he also believes in building communities, in creating a real space to engage with each other, in creating a more equal world. And it doesn’t have to be overly complicated, as his story stands testament.

Equally inspiring was the sharing by Zahabiya Khorakiwala, MD, Wockhardt Hospitals, an alumnus of the ET 40 Under Forty club. Dwelling on the important task shouldered by young leaders, she spoke of infusing creativity and ideas into the world with boldness and perseverance, even when faced with headwinds. She invoked Winston Churchill’s words, “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” The upbeat tenor of their addresses was matched by the infectious energy of the 40 winners, and the hearty applause of industry veterans who were there to celebrate the young leaders.

Shop talk may have been inevitable but, against the tempo of jazz music, it became a gathering of friends, where peers turned cheerleaders, and time paused for next gen to unwind and celebrate.