Bharat Entrepreneurs

” When I thought of starting a company, I felt India needed 100 people like Narayana Murthy and Ambani. If 100 such people support 2 lakh people each, imagine how many Indians get supported. Entrepreneurship is needed to uplift the poor. It is not easy to be an entrepreneur, especially a first generation entrepreneur. There will be lots of challenges in the beginning but you should learn to look for the light at the end of the tunnel. Never give up even if there are hurdles. There are many who give up within a week. You need determination and a tough mind to cross the initial hurdles.” E.Sarathbabu

E. SarathBabu is not the typical IIM Ahmedabad student you read about in the newspapers. He did not take the easy path to earn mega bucks in spite of being offered plum jobs from top companies. Instead he chose, like a true entrepreneur, to carve out his own path to success. So he started FOODKING.

His mother worked as an ayah in an Anganvadi to educate him and his siblings. Later he went on to complete his higher education in the prestigious BITS Pilani and IIM Ahmedabad.

In the beginning, he took a loan of Rs 20 lakh and started Foodking in August 2006. Initially the losses were poised at Rs 2000 a day. The cafeteria’s he set up initially did not work according to plan and he soon came to the conviction that only by selling in large volumes that any profit could be made.

In 2006 IIM A alumni meet, he hoped to bag a contract but could not.

In march 2007 he got an offer to start a unit at BITS, Pilani. This contract proved profitable. Spurred with this initial profit and with the money that he borrowed from his IIM A friends, he wanted to move ahead. He got BITS Goa contract which was to be his biggest break. He had to cater to over 1300 students and the sales peaked at 65,000 Rs per day.

Then he got an opportunity to serve at SRM deemed college which boasts of over 17,000 students!

Right now he has a turn around of Rs 3.5 crore per annum. By next year he hope to increase it to Rs 20 crores.

At present he has BITS hyderabad in his hands and it all set to be operational by July 2008. So the future does look rosy to this Foodking.

http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/aug/31spec.htm

Popularity: 41%

Let me justify the title first…TULSI TANTI is the man who started India’s biggest Wind Power Energy business SUZLON ENERGY, a 10 Billion USD company.He is now in the Top 10 richest indians (Forbes list # 390).

AT PRESENT :

Tulsi Tanti,49, is now the chairman and Managing Director of SUZLON ENERGY, which was started in 1995 as a small wind farm with a mere 20 people. And now there are about 13000 employees operated in 21 countries.Suzlon is now the world’s fifth largest wind energy company worth 10.5 % market share.Mr.Tulsi has 29% share and his siblings,a total, about 41%. The statastics are astounding with a 108% growth in 2007 financial year ending.But the most successfull step was aquistion of REpower systems a German company which made all its competitors realise the calibre of SUZLON ENERGY (previously in 2006 it aquired Hansen Transmissions, Belgium, world’s second largest wind turbine gear box maker ).

IN THE PAST:

But the story how it all happened is quite interesting.Mr. Tulsi Tanti was in textile business before he plunged into this wind energy feild. The business was running quite good but he was not happy with the electricity bills he used to get. So then he powered his textile business with two small capacity wind turbine generators. Many considered it as a wothless step as the immediate cost of it was more than his textile business. But Mr.Tulsi could forsee the potential the feild has.The driving forces as said by him are are the soaring fuel and power prices that drove him to the unconventional step that did hit the Bull’s Eye.

THE OTHER SIDE :

He was chosen as one of the “HEROES OF THE ENVIRONMENT” by the TIME Magzine in 2006. As an environmentalist he always spoke of conserving Natural resources. He says “If Indians start consuming power like the Americans, the world will run out of resources. Either you stop India from developing, or you find some alternate solution.”He is a man with a mission to place India in the TOP and SAFE place in the Future. He says “I could have a mansion and afford to leave the lights on all day long if I wanted. But it’s not about saving money anymore for me. I just want to do what I can to fix the problem.”

Popularity: 20%