TiE talk by Roby John, Tap 2 learn, Oct 2013 Roby John is a mechanical engineer from COEP, batch of 1999. He was the gold medalist in college – moved on to a higher education program, but did not like it and dropped out. He has a flair for teaching, and he has taught for … Read more

Ranga Bodavala was born into an agricultural family in Guntur. Wanted to be an engineer, but his farmer-dad, who is also a trained cost accountant, made the young Ranga do his B.Com. An MBA from Andhra University followed, where Ranga got both his naukri and chokri. He met his better half here. He joined Administrative … Read more

Rajeev’s dad was in the army and mom was a university professor. Rajeev did his MBA from Symbiosis and landed up with a job in Canada. Found that quite boring, so came back to India with the specific intention of becoming an entrepreneur. One thing he was sure of – the field would be off-beat. … Read more

Tikaram Jagannath became a Colgate Palmolive distributor way back in 1949. And for the next 55 years, the family continued its long association with FMCG distribution: adding Britannia, Reckitt and Colman, Ciba Geigy, Amul – and finally the icing on the cake, Hindustan Lever in 1996. In 2005, after having worked full time for 15 … Read more

We started by meeting with Pravin’s better half, who also works with him. She did her schooling from Jnyan Prabhodini. Then went on to do her law and also her MBA. She looks after legal complainces and HR at the company. With 250 people in the team, I asked her what her biggest challenge was. … Read more

Prakash Bhalerao is a Serial entrepreneur and Venture Capitalist. He grew up in Indore, where he did his schooling and college education. He shared two memories of his Indore days: He grew up in a school which produced a fair number of politicians: 2 MPs, 4 MLAs and a dozen corporators. Most of these politicians … Read more

Robert Kiyosaki, of Rich Dad Poor Dad fame, says that to be successful ou have to have a clear societal goal, where you end up doing either of two things: Improve the quality of life or Right some wrong. Pradeep Lokhande grew up in a village near Wai, where his father worked as a peon. … Read more

Meerut, about 70 km from Delhi, is a hub for education and medicine for western UP.  That is where Nitin Gupta did his growing up. His father was a bank manager, who at heart was a scientist. Dad had used one of India’s first computers during his own post graduation days – when he had … Read more

Nitin Damle wanted to work on engines after his graduation from COEP in 1984. How he ended up in textiles is an interesting story. The eighties were a time when the only good manufacturing companies to join recruited only very few engineers from the COEP campus. The rest had to join low paying jobs in … Read more

Netrapal Sharma is a second generation entrepreneur. His dad shifted base from Rajasthan to Maharashtra in the seventies – the usual migration-employment story. Couldn’t find a job in Bombay, so he roamed the streets with a kulfi-gaadi. Fate took him from Bombay to the small town of Ichalkaranji. Remembering his good ole days in Bombay, … Read more