4 Ordinary Indians Who Created Extraordinary Business

Bangalore: One of the renowned authors of India, Shiv Khera said: “Winners don’t do different things, they do things differently”. Yes, this is completely true! To achieve success in life, one doesn’t have to take birth with a golden spoon. Even to be an achiever, it is not always compulsory to have the best education from the best institution.

History has a record of many of the successful people, who, now stands at the peak of success but was once nowhere close to either a rich family or any of the best degrees. These people are called as the ‘extraordinary’ people by the ordinary people.

‘The Economic Times’ has listed four outstanding personalities, who not only excelled in their works but also has set an example to be followed.

1. Kailash Katkar
Founder and CEO, Quickheal Technologies

It is very hard for everyone to believe that the founder CEO of India’s largest internet security provider, Quickheal was once a radio mechanic. It is even harder to believe that in the name of education, the founder CEO has done the basic matriculation with an additional basic computer hardware course.

After completing his matriculation, Kailash Katkar started working in a local radio and calculator repairing shop in Pune. It was in the year 1985, when he was only 19 years old and had no other options other than working for 1,500 per month.

At the age, when most of the teens dreams about the best colleges and the higher degrees, Katkar was sent to Mumbai to have a two months workshop training by the owner of the shop.

Katkar’s strong determination and devotion made him an expert mechanic within a short time and after a few years, he was also keeping all the records of the repairing shop for his employer. Since then, things were going all favorable for Katkar in the repairing shop. The big turn happened to him in 1990, when he moved out of the repairing shop and decided to have his own repairing shop.

15,000 and a leased room in Pune flared the flames of the one-man venture. By the end of the first year, he made a decent profit from his repairing shop and this took him beyond the limits; the hunger of progress forced him to take computer classes. He completed a basic computer hardware course in 1991-92. This was the beginning of the anti-virus giant of India.

Katkar’s first computer break happened to be two personal computers from Pune with an annual fees of 2,000 each. By the next year, he got contracts from ‘New India Insurance’. This got followed by another company. These two contracts finally brought a turnover of 1 lakh by the year end along with four employees for Katkar.

Very shortly, Katkar and his younger brother, who is a computer engineer, started developing antivirus software. They sold their first antivirus for 700 under the name ‘Quick Heal’, which had a much lesser price in comparison to other available antivirus of that time. This made turnover to reach 12.19 lakh.

Since then, there was no looking back and today, Quickheal is the largest internet security provider in India with 610 employees, 23 offices across India and a reach to 50 countries.

2. Pravin Herlekar
Chairman and Managing Director, Omkar Speciality Chemicals

Born and brought up in an Indian middle class family, Pravin Herlekar is an IIT graduate. Like the other middle class kids, Pravin’s life was also the same. Right from his childhood, he was made aware about the very common Indian belief, ‘study hard and you will have a nice life!’

Life was also going the same traditional way for Pravin. Change happened to him, when he was in the final year of his Chemical Enginnering from IIT Bombay and was about to complete his internship. It was in the year 1972, when during his internship, he met the then Managing Director, KC Shroff of Excel Industries, Mumbai. Pravin also gives the credit of all his success to Shroff. The discussion with the MD of Excel Indstries changed Pravin’s life forever.

After the discussion with KC Shroff, Pravin decided to start his own chemical lab. Even though lack of cash and space were the main restraining factors for this determined grad, he did not kept his goals of having a MNC limited to his dreams. To achieve his dreams, he first acquired proper entrepreneurial knowledge from Mumbai University and upon completion of his post graduation he worked with multiple big shots of the corporate market. He worked with State Industrial & Investment Corporation of Maharashtra, FDC, Aegis Chemicals and Milton Group.

While working at Milton, he researched a lot about the chemical market in India and took suggestions from all his friends about what to manufacture. After collecting enough knowledge about the market, he finally quit his job in Milton and started his own chemical lab in his kitchen in the year 1983, which later got incorporated in 2005 and went public in 2011.

He used most of provident fund in researching on deriving new particles and while he was doing all these, hi wife was taking care of the household expenses. The dream came true for Pravin in March, 1983, when he developed ‘molybdenum’ and ‘selenium’ derivatives in his kitchen lab.

After Cipla decided to launch an anti-asthmatic product, Pravin got the big break as he was capable of supplying the ‘selenium’ oxide; which was very costly and had to be imported during those days.

Success started flowing into his hat after getting the deal from Cipla and today, Pravin is the founder Chairman and also the Managing Director of one of the reputed chemical companies in India which has been accepted decently in the global market too.

3. Mitali Kalra
Founder, Zao Foods

Mitali Kalra holds an MBA (finance) degree from INSEAD, France. She completed her MBA in 2008. After completing MBA, she worked in corporate headquarters like Dubai and Singapore for almost one year.

In 2010, Mitali returned back to India and started working with KPMG. After leaving KPMG, she worked with Deloitte. During her working tenure in India, she was blown away with the lack of nutritious food options in India; especially in and around her workplaces in India. This was the beginning of Zao Foods.

While the idea of coming up with a nutritious food café came to her mind, she was having a well established career in investment banking. It was pretty tough for her to change her dream into reality. Even, her parents were not supportive in her initial days of entrepreneurship and asked her to get back to her corporate career.

Finally, fighting against all the odds, Mitali invested 14 lakh from her own savings and registered her company by the name of ‘Zao Foods’ in December, 2011.

After her company got registered, she took a couple of months in deciding the looks of her food café and how the menu will look like. After all the efforts, she gathered a team for her café and launched her first take away outlet in February, 2012 in the Greater Kailash area of New Delhi. Her outlet is named as ‘Crostini’, which means toasted bread with toppings in Italian.

Her café offers a list of healthy and nutritious foods for the food lovers. Her café took a couple of months to come to the notice of the food lovers. With a menu, that offers wholewheat pasta, wraps, soups, salads, low-fat smoothies and shakes, and many more, the list of her customer is increasing with every passing day and she is putting in all her efforts to have the best results.

Within the very first year of becoming an entrepreneur, she has achieved a turnover of more than 

25 lakh and si looking forward to attain more and more.

To keep the vibes of her café alive and fresh, she organizes workshops and different types of events at regular time intervals. She is all set to go for some more outlets for her food business and to offer healthy and nutritious foods to the Indian food lovers.

4. Vijaya Pastala
Founder CEO, Under the Mango Tree (UTMT)

Honey is considered as one of the holy and healthy drinks in India. Honey has more than hundred benefits. Drinking honey on a daily routine, not only assures a good heal, but also keeps people away from several diseases. But for Vijaya Pastala, honey is one of the most important ways of living life; honey is the best way for Vijaya to make profits.

Vijaya Pastala is a graduate from MIT, U.S. After completing her graduation, she returned to India and got engaged in helping the 1993 earthquake people of Latur, Maharashtra. During those times, she had a small team and her office used to be very small room with tin roof. Her office was very congested and thus she moved her office to under the shade of a mango tree.

While continuing her kind service from under the shade of a mango tree, she made plans to name her future ventures, if there comes any as ‘Under the Mango Tree’.