Dreamers With National Ambition

Situated in the busy business area of Bangalore's SP Road, Mega Byte Corporation, has been in the IT trading business since 1997. In a short span, the company has rogressed fast and wants to achieve a turnover of Rs 40 crore this fiscal. This high growth speaks for the hard work put in by the promoters for the success of their organization.

"We recorded a turnover of Rs 30 crore in 2000-2001," says a proud Dharmendra Baid, Director, Mega Byte. Achieving this turnover was no mean task, as the Baid brothers fought tooth and nail in the face of stiff competition to ensure their rightful place in the market. And this battle was worth the effort as the company won the support of many principals.

Mega Byte bagged the first prize in Kobian's Millennium Scheme and has also won recognition from vendors like Samsung, Seagate, HP, Quantum and LG, as top performers in Bangalore and the southern region. 

Germination of Mega Byte

Soon after graduating in commerce from Kolkata, Dharmendra Baid along with brother Mahendra, a post-graduate from Kanpur, decided to help their relatives in their IT business. The duo later decided to move to Bangalore in 1995 to venture in to IT business, as they believed that the city offered numerous business opportunities. 

The brothers studied the market for two years and launched Mega Byte Corporation in 1997, with an investment of Rs 8 lakh. Operating from a 100 square feet office, they started their business with three assistants. Today, Mega Byte has a new office, which also includes their warehouse and has around 17 staff, including two engineers. 

Dream builds vision

Mahendra and Dharmendra are firm believers in the adage that only the dreamers can become achievers. "You can't achieve anything unless you have the courage to dream," says Dharmendra Baid, the more outspoken of the two. 

He also believes that to survive the huge tides of competition in this industry, factors like business foresight, maturity and a complete knowledge of the market is very essential. 

True to their words, the Baid brothers today are dreaming of becoming national distributors for Kobian's range of products and opening branch offices across the country.

Dharamendra also feels that a healthy relationship between vendor and channel partner accelerates their growth. "A strong 'vendor-partner' bond helps the dealer acquire in-depth knowledge of the products and solutions offered by his principal. This is important to excel in this business," he says, with confidence.

Winning confidence of partners

Mega Byte today has built-up a strong network of 40 resellers in and around Bangalore. Dharmendra feels that the company's replacement policies have helped them maintain the confidence of their business partners. According to him, several channel partners ignore their credit and replacement policies, concentrating instead on sales and services. 

"Yes, sales and services are important, but so are the company's credit and replacement policies. If you don't have the right

proportion of these four factors then success is very difficult to achieve," says he. 

This philosophy of four factors, business maturity and market knowledge has definitely made the Baid brothers stand apart from their peers in the IT trading in Bangalore. The city could definitely do with more of their lot.

Sunila Paul in Bangalore