There are several entrepreneurs in the channel community who have an IIT or an IIM background. While their peers were busy scouting for opportunities overseas after graduation, they decided to try and make a difference in India. Their gambit surely paid off and they have their IIT and IIM backgrounds to thank for, to a great extent.

Highly regarded in India as epitomes of quality technical education the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) have produced many thought provoking scientists, technologists and businessmen. The vibrant channel community is not untouched by the IITians or IIMites and there are some entrepreneurs coming from these prestigious institutions.

We take a closer look at people from the channel community, who have studied in these institutions. Let's take a closer look on how their educational background helped them carve a niche for themselves in the channel space.

Glamour and grueling studies
The glamour associated with IITs and IIMs has grown over the years. These institutions themselves have added to the hype to some degree, while the rest of it has been built up on one hand by the large number of coaching institutes that charge an exorbitant fee for helping one gain entry through the pearly gates of Joint Entrance Examination (JEE).

"The situation was not always like this," as mentioned by veteran channel community players like Delhi-based RK Malhotra of OA Compserve and Ranjan Chopra of Team Computers. Unlike today's students, both got through the prestigious IIT exam without even going through the rigors of a private coaching schedule.

"In our days, the phenomenon of coaching institutes and training was not like what it is today. I could have taken coaching and all that training–but I decided to appear in the exam on my own. Luckily I cleared the entrance test and got an all India ranking of 65 as well," fondly remembers RK Malhotra.

Fuelling Silicon Valley's growth
In the seventies and eighties, going abroad was a very attractive option for IITians. The reasons were evident-it was very easy to get scholarship, there were good prospects for employment and, most importantly, there was job satisfaction.

Most of the Indian talent in the form of IITians is focused in the IT industry with Silicon Valley as its unofficial headquarters. Most of the US-based research institution's manpower needs are fuelled by the IITs based in India.

People who are not that interested in research and going abroad, tend to look towards ways of creating value within the country. They work towards becoming a systems integrator or a solution provider is just one way of achieving that.

"The basic reason for creating an education system like IIT is to encourage students towards research activity and problem solving techniques. Most of the US-based research activity is happening with students from Indian IIT background. I was not interested in all that, that's why I decided to stay back in this country and work with real-time problems in life," explains Ranjan.

Even though a large number of multinational software companies have sizable number of IIT graduates, most large IT companies have very few IITians at or near top. Most are near the middle management rungs. "I was never interested in following the herd, just for the sake of going abroad. For me, it was a desire to excel in studies and then trying to incorporate that towards developing business acumen," says, RK Malhotra of OA Compserve.

Modest beginnings
Most of the successful channel players coming from IIT or IIM have started with a modest beginning in the field of IT. Ranjan, who runs Rs 111 crore turnover Team Computers today, started his career working with Philips just because he had an affinity towards amplifiers and speaker systems.

"I faced a lot of initial problems that almost all individuals, who are starting their professional life face. There was a time when I was giving interviews at NIIT, CMC, Wipro and nothing was coming out well for me. I kept on searching for a good opportunity and luckily I found an opening at Delhi with Apple's distributor. There I worked as a Service Manager," he adds. Later on in 1988–he went on to start Team Computers with a modest investment of Rs 15,000.

Similarly for Malhotra–the passion was towards atomic energy research. He worked for atomic energy and after sometime, went in for an IIM degree to develop management skills.

While, for Mumbai-based Shabbir Imani, the opportunity to work with a global company came in the form of a campus interview at IIM. "I was clear during my MBA that I would take up a job with a consumer marketing company, however HCL-HP came to the campus and offered an excellent opportunity as senior management trainee, and this made me get into
infotech early on. As they say the rest is history," he remembers. Shabbir is now working as the Managing Director at Nexstep Infotech.

How the 'I' connection helped
Quality education being given at institutes like the IITs or IIMs within the country has helped these successful entrepreneurs in a number of ways. Firstly, it has given them a solid platform to build self-confidence in terms of providing building blocks for their career path.

Most of these solution providers or system integrators have excelled in big and small problem-solving techniques. The educational foundation coming from IIT or IIM has propelled these personalities to think about overcoming difficulties in a positive way and in doing so, they have achieved their goal.

"This quality education helps in multiple ways. At the end of the day, one is running a business and hence MBA always helps, as you have all-rounding on all areas right from HR, to finance to marketing, to sales, to operations. In our case, as a solution provider it also helps in quickly understanding our client's business needs and propose a solution for the same," explains Shabbir.

He further mentions that there are many instances where they have bagged the order by virtue of being able to understand the client's requests in one meeting and others had been interacting for months. "This led to the client giving us their business," he adds on.

According to Bangalore-based Jagannathan, CEO of Fourth Dimension Technologies, his education at IIM Kolkata has helped him towards handling the overall business in a better way. "This education has given me a broader perspective and equipped me to have organization building skills," he adds.

With so much of IT activity happening in the country, the prestigious IITs and IIMs are more than a hunting ground for big multinational companies, which are always on the lookout for talent. They are fast becoming a breeding ground for developing and transforming talent to see opportunities in areas such as channels and work towards the betterment of this society as a whole.

As the country's economy performs on the development scale, there would be ample amount of opportunities coming in for such enthusiastic entrepreneurs in different segments in the coming future.

ZIA ASKARI (ziaa@cybermedia.co.in) With inputs from Subbalakshmi BM in Bangalore, S Gopikrishna in Chennai and Amishi Shah in Mumbai. 

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