Galloping Ahead - The journey of Sandeep Jain !

Customer Story for Bharat Fritz Werner Ltd.

An IITian, a Mechanical Engineering graduate coming from a family of Class 1 officers and Senior bureaucrats, was expected to write the Civil services exam and get a govt job.

It didn't happen that way .

Instead , the young boy, Sandeep Jain , opted to join a start-up ,TVS Electronics in Bangalore . The interest came from the college days when he was interested in Robotics , Mechatronics , and Digital electronics .

Says Sandeep "The idea of doing something of my own was always there , though I cannot pin point a particular instance which triggered this feeling.

 It was sometime six months after joining, that the Company had to open up the Delhi branch operations and they thought, none better than me .

 " Yeh to Hai hi Dilli ka Banda " ( The guy actually comes from Delhi ), was the thought which echoed within the management of TVSE . 

 Before I got posted, and part of the JET industrial programme , there was a two day psychoanalytic session and at the end of the session , one of the session holders took me aside and told me, " Look Sandeep, you have joined a company and you are working for somebody but when I analyse your personality , it tells me that you have to be your own boss " 

 "This was when it got reinforced that I have to do something of my own and in India ", says Sandeep .

Adding further , "All my batchmates had written GRE exams and were moving to US and I had my elder sister there and it was easiest thing for me to move abroad to do Masters or even pick up a job . Moreover everybody at home were dumbstruck as to what has gone into my head .

 I moved to Delhi and started selling TVS Printers, UPSs , and Keyboards .

 After a short stint I moved to Tata Unisys who were into selling main frame Computers .Tatas was a good name and the jump was good .

 One year down the line sometime in 1991 , I was selling computers to the upcoming Auto industry in Gurgaon and I got a requirement of compiling the departmental requirements of Sona Koyo , an upcoming Co and vendor to Maruti Udyog Limited .

 I met the Head of Engineering, Mr Vikram Verma, at Sona Koyo and he asked me a funny question,  "What are you Mr Jain ? Why are you selling these computers- shamputers . You make this."

And saying this handed over a casting component to me.  I was perplexed . Here, I have come for something else and the gentleman has thrust a component in my hand to manufacture . I was still looking at the component when he asked ," Do you know CNC machines ?", as I was still lost and grappling to handle the new challenge thrown at me .

Being an IITian , we had been told that the Computer Numerically Controlled machines would be the future . 

 "Yes , I know them - Computer Numerically controlled machines ."I said promptly and confidently.

 "Then you get one CNC and supply us these components", said Mr Vikram Verma .His gaze somehow gave me a lot of confidence .

 "I had not seen the CNC and those days we did not have CNC machines in IIT Kanpur . But I vividly remember Prof Amitabh Ghosh at IIT Kanpur telling us the future belonged to CNC machines . I took up the challenge . And started looking for information . Today you have internet , youtube , Google baba ....those days nothing was there . And HMT and Kirloskar were the only known name .', recalls Sandeep .

Adding further. 

"The search for the CNC Machine started .Somebody known to us in Kashmiri gate in Old Delhi referred the name , ACE Designers . I was reluctant to go in for a unknown name . But my cousin persuaded me to explore and I relented. I don't know from where I searched the address of ACE designers - mind you those days there was no internet or youtube or even yellow pages . And in came Mr Shirgurkar and Mr Ravi Rana of ACE for discussions and the order was finalised ."

 " Let me share here that to impress upon ACE officials that we were not novices and create a solid impression on the ACE officials, the meeting was arranged in my brother’s palatial government office ." , says Sandeep smilingly 

 "The order was typed and I remember the cost to be close to Rs 21 Lacs and the delivery period of six months . 

 No work next few months , But then I worked my way .

 During those days , the dish antenna business was picking up and I did a partnership business of installing dish antennas and in some 6 months we has some 200 connection installations. After some six months as the delivery of the machine was nearing , we sold the business to the bigger players , and made some money. The other part of the margin came by selling my old car and bike. The rest was funded by Delhi Financial Corporation ".

 My mother was zapped . She was deeply concerned . " Yeh kaisa ladka Hai , Kya Karta rehta Hai " ( How is this boy ? What is he up to ? ) How is he running different things together . Her worries were shortlived. 

 The machine arrived in October ,and I seriously got into the business 

"Money was tight to come and we use to buy inserts in ones or two's . Paul and Co , dealers of Widia were the ones who helped us - rest were all wanting to offer the entire box of inserts whereas Paul and Co looking at my young age and enthusiasm offered the concession of allowing me to draw the inserts in Ones and Two's . 

Relationships have helped me immensely. Be it Verma Sahib, Shirgurkar Sahib , Paul Sahib , Parrikar Sahib , Deshmukh Sahib and many others . It is the quality time I have spend in their company that I cherish most . If I were stuck up money wise for purchase of machines , Garde Sahib would advance me money against orders ".

Deshmukh Sahib would ask probing questions on the Vision , five years hence and so on which would be intriguing .I remember travelling with Deshmukh Sahib and Parrikar Sahib ,once ,driving them when Deshmukh Sahib asked , "What is the plan for the year and the next year ?"

I replied promptly, " You let me know yours and I will follow your plan ditto,Sir . " 

And everybody burst laughing . 

 Asked on the challenges , Sandeep reflects momentarily ,"Challenges keep coming and handling them is the business. Today the biggest challenge is to work with diverse background of customers and adapting to the frequent changes at the customers end ."

 On the success of an Entrepreneur, adds Sandeep," 85% of the success of the entrepreneur is purely soft skills and the balance 15% on the domain knowledge .For me the people skills has kept me in good stead and my ability to make friends with any age group has helped me immensely " 

Today with a diverse customer base of Sona Group, Oerlikon, Thales & Volvo and with some 40 plus CNC machines - Sandeep Jain and his SOLO group continues to gallop ahead on sound and strong relationships .