I knew from the start that there is no one behind me, so I had to
rely onmyself. I tookmy own decisions and became very independent.
This has helped me a lot in life and also cemented me as a successful
entrepreneur.
I had joined Hindu College after schooling which I term as a
personality changing experience. Also, at the same time I had started
helping my brother in his pen business. To improve on my English I
started reading English books. I set one or two big goals formyself. The
main one being to “make it big in business.”
In 1984 I graduated fromcollege and joinedmy brothers. I coined
the name 'Su-Kam' for the pen and wanted to make it into a 'brand'.
After sometime I realized I couldn'twork withmy brothers and decided
to embark onmy own journey bymyself. I had the pressure that I have
to becomesomething in life. I started cable TV business without having
any technical understanding or know-how on how to run the business.
I had realized that I have to learn how to do this work be it learning
things to actually fixing things. I started reading my class ninth and
tenth Physics books to gain a greater understanding. By 1996-97 my
cable TV businesswas flourishing.
Whatever Iwas earning, Iwas putting inmy business because that
was my life and in 1998 I made my move into the inverter business.
There was an inverter atmy home which was mostly out of order. One
day when the mechanic came to repair it, I just had a peek inside the
inverter and realized they were using a sub-standard PCB. Later on I brought a high quality branded inverter and askedmy factory workers
to work on it. I had started reading books and articles on this.
Knowledge for the sake of knowledge is foolish but it is away forward.
After much experimentation and testing I launched an inverter
but it did not rock the market sowe constantly kept improvising hoping
to deliver the best product. Finally we were able to make an efficient
inverter and the sales started picking up. A great product is a good
thing to have, but even great products need marketing. A fact that
companies focused on technology often overlook. We soon launched
an ad campaign and our brand got noticed with a fairly low spend.
There were two or three employees of mine who were not good at
work, so I put them on the job for putting up boards reading SU-KAM
on it all over India. We persuaded dhaba owners by giving them Tshirts,
to put their name on Su-Kam boards and advertise along with
their product. By 2002, we were in a good position. The following year
Su-Kam launched very innovative products including the Sinewave
Inverter and an inverter with a plastic body, both for the first time in
India.
In 2004 for the first time I applied for a patent. With superior
products, a well known brand name and strong dealer network, Su-
Kam has achieved remarkable growth. In 2004, our turnover stood at
Rs. 100 crores. Today, it is touching Rs. 500 crores, of which Rs. 80
crores comesfromthe export market.
In 2006, we set up our first off-shore office in Dubai. We also
armed ourselves with a trademark registration in the US, wherewe are
now exporting. Su-Kam has 32 people working on R&D- all engineers.
Innovation is a mild way to describe it. What they do is keep inventing.
For me innovation is the key to success. My dreams are so big that
even if I work for another 50 years and the new generation also works
on it, it will not be completed. You should be driven by your passion or
your interest. This was my passion and I worked towards it. I have not
been driven by any other force. |
