Soul train

MY BIG IDEA

MY DAYS IN THE GODOWN
After I graduated, my father gave me a godown to make radios and recorders and experiment with new products. Since I was not a technical graduate, I took help from other skilled engineers.

And with the assistance of two big companies "" Philips India and Bharat Electronics "" I brought out my first two-band pocket radio in 1975. By 1984, our radios, amplifiers and tape recorders, which sold under the name Jetking, were well recieved and I began to expand my business.

SUDDEN DOWNFALL
Bad times, however, followed, when I ventured into television. That was the year the entire country got connected through television, an initiative taken by the late prime minister, Indira Gandhi.

I came out out with my television product under the brand Trac, but could not sustain the business. Between 1984 and 1989, I lost Rs 3 crore and there used to be not even Rs 10 in my pocket those days.

RECOVERY PATH
In 1990, I got into hardware and networking and started an institute: Jetking School of Electronic Theory. Through this we started training students in hardware engineering and networking.

This was when the government gave the computer industry priority status and there were not enough technical staff in the country for maintenance and repair of computers. My plunge into this sunrise industry paid off.

Today I have 75 training centres across the country, five of which are owned by Jetking Infotrain and the rest are franchised. I started this business with Rs 50 lakh, which between 1990-97 went on multiplying till it yielded sales of Rs 8 crore.

THE TURNING POINT
It was during this period I started thinking about introducing fun in training programmes, to make the whole business of rigorous training lighter.

The idea came to mind when I went to train with Bob Pike, a creative training guru in the US. He had clusters of 50 students who exchanged ideas and suggestions on a particular situation, and then got back to Pike.

I found myself squeezed among 49 Americans (I was the only Indian), and when I would go to Pike with my solutions, he would either play music, or make me sit quietly or do funny things.

But that was his idea of training, which I introduced after coming to India. Since I came back, I have trained 3,000 people.

Smartrain trains trainers to introduce creativity in their programmes, so that the whole business of training does not become a drudge.

For this, we impart training to our in-house trainers, as well those outside and also to corporates. I have conducted over 50 training programmes for professionals in reputed companies all over India. Yoga and meditation form an integral part of my training.

I have introduced practical techniques along with five dimensional management skills programmes. And we go far beyond the intelligent quotient to bring out the genius in our trainees.

LOOKING FORWARD
With a turnover of Rs 50 crore and with growth projections of over 30 per cent targeted for the coming year, we are banking on the robustness of the economy.

The year 2002-03 was bad because of the dotcom bust, but we made up for that in 2004-05 with sales of Rs 47 crore. We also offered attractive bonus shares and dividends to our shareholders. We hope to do even better this year.