India’s national-level institutes like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) & Indian Institute of Management (IIM) have been rendering the nation with a race of skilled and technically sound individuals. These people are expert in what they do because they have their roots in India’s most renowned and successful institutes. With top-class professors, resourceful campuses, high-quality accommodations and global trotting study materials, the institutes are generating entrepreneurs with multidirectional ideologies.
It is a general perception in the nation that IIT & IIM students are bound to become successful as an entrepreneur and that most of the top class entrepreneurial business and innovative startup ideas are the brainchildren of IITians & IIMians only. However, these 5 entrepreneurs never let any such thought cross their mind and redefined the ideology of Entrepreneurship for the forthcoming generation.
Today, we will read the story and Ideas of 5 such people who proved that you need not be an IIT or IIM alumni or a dropout to become a successful Entrepreneur.
1. RS Shanbhag – Valuepoint Systems
RS Shanbhag is an engineer and pursued his diploma in engineering from KLE Technological University in Hubbali, Karnataka (formerly renowned as BVB College of Engineering and Technology). After completing his diploma degree, RS decided to utilize his knowledge and move ahead in his life with an amazing business Idea. He started his company Valuepoint Systems in 1991. The Bangalore based company is complete IT Infrastructure Services Company which provides a global System Integration with its IT Infrastructure solutions and services.
Shanbhag began the company with ₹10,000 corpus money. With the immense amount of hard work and an expert base of professional employees, he has been able to make it a ₹600 crore turnover while surviving three recessions since it’s inception. Their client base includes 15000 large and small companies with a list of fortune 500 companies. The company has received multiple awards from global level stages for their services in the field of Risk Advisory & Consulting, Cybersecurity, Data Center Modernization, Cloud Services, Network Transformation, BI & Analytics, Digital Workplace & Infrastructure Management.
2. Abhishek Rungta – Indus Net Technologies
Abhishek is a graduate in Bachelor of Commerce from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. He completed his Masters of Science in Multimedia in 1999. As a young boy, Abhishek used to install internet connections in houses and trained the customer about how to operate browser and email services using the internet.
His love for technology developed since then and he started his own company Net Technologies in Kolkata in 1997. It is a technology-oriented company which provide digital products and solutions to various industries in India including banking sector, retail sector, real estate sectors and many government organizations. The company has spread its business in countries like UK, USA, Brazil, Canada, Singapore, UAE, Saudi Arabia. It has a global customer relationship value of $50K -$2m per annum.
3. Murugavel Janakiraman – Bharat Matrimony
Murugavel Janakiraman is a Tamilian guy from South India. He completed his graduation from the University of Madres in the field of computer applications. In his initial days, he used to run a Tamil Community in the united states using computer and internet. This idea inspired him to start an online community where people could come and interact with each other to find their perfect life partner. In 1997, Murugavel started India’s first matrimonial site Bharatmatrimony.com.
A company which every one of us had heard about. Many of us have found their perfect match on this website. Bharat Matrimony has since been a big success and is now a public listed company. The company recently declared revenue of ₹350 crore in 2018.
BharatMatrimony.com is one of the pioneer’s companies in India in online matrimony service. They have been regarded as the “Most Trusted Matrimony Website” by Brand Trust Report. The company has been featured in Limca Book of World Records for making the most number of documented marriages online possible.
4. Satya Prabhakar – Sulekha
Satya Prabhakar completed his Bachelor of Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Chennai in 1984. He went to the University of Florida, Master of Science degree in Computer Sciences & Electrical Engineering. Afterwards completing his post-graduation in 1987, he decided to dedicate another year in double master to complete his MBA in International Finance degree in 1989.
After dedicating his services for a few years to companies like TCS, Philips. AT&T and Honeywell, he decided to open his own company. He started his own company Sulekha.com in 2007.
Sulekha is a purely digital platform company which provides local services businesses to consumers. Matching more than 20 million consumers with 50,000 service professionals across 200 categories in about 40 cities, Sulekha is an end-to-end local service fulfilment brand. They provide expert services on home, life and self utilities. Satya’s efforts and expertise have led Sulekha to become the multi-million dollar brand in India and around the world.
5. Nalin Tayal – GATS India
Nalin Tayal from Ludhiana completed his graduation in Mechanical Engineering from Guru Nanak Dev College in 1991. He holds an MBA in Accounting and Finance from Newport University and double bachelors in LLB from Shobit University. He initially worked as a financial consultant for a few years. However, he was always focused to own a business. As a result, he established GATS India Ltd, a financial consultancy firm in 1999.
The company currently holds a customer base of 42000 users and has a turnover of Rs. 400 crore. With its services expanding in the field of banking, forex, tours and travels, and digital payments platforms, the company manages 5.7 lakh transactions per day for its customers.
These people have broken the stereotypes by creating a new race of technology-based companies. They prove that one need not be an IIT or IIM graduate to become a successful entrepreneur in the country. Anyone with the sheer zeal, dedication, exquisite skill set and knowledge can craft a business model that has the potential to become a global success.
