Advertisment

K Babu : In praise of Cholas

author-image
B
Updated On
New Update

King Rajaraja Chola, who built the renowned temple at Thanjavur has a unique character. Everyone relates him with their thoughts. For theists, he is an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva. However, for atheist, he is a great architect. If historians call him a great king in Chola dynasty, Tamil scholars call him a guardian of language. Amidst all this, K Babu, CEO, Apex Info Sys Solutions, Tirupur, finds a management guru in the king. "For the second time, I am reading a book on Rajarajan and I could pick up lot of management thoughts from that. As a channel partner, we know how tough it is to manage people in our organization," says Babu.

Advertisment

INITIAL DAYS

Babu did not enjoy much facilities during his childhood. His father was neither an engineer nor a doctor, but a humble car driver. Babu attributes his success to Saramma George, his father's boss and who completely looked after Babu and helped educate him. "Being brought up by a doctor, I learnt certain basic qualities like time-management, perfection, discipline, etc."

Entrepreneurship was his dream right from when he was in school. "Even during my school days I with my friends used to have discussions on starting our own firms which came true only we finished our education," he says. Finishing his diploma in mechanical engineering from Nanjappa Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, he joined a garment export company. Later, he joined a private firm which provided internet services for a garment company at Tirupur for international clients.

"I would say that my first success started in that phase. The website I created was instrumental in grabbing a business enquiry worth `12 mn," says Babu. However, later, Babu started his own firm along with his four school friends. "We initially started with the distributor for dial-up and DSL products. In 2003, we tied up with India's leading entry-level telecom company," says Babu while describing about his entry into the IT business.

EARLY DAYS

Anyone in the business, at some point of time, swim across tough waters. Babu recalls the worst time of his business when he suffered a huge loss of about `5.5 lakh when many of his customers failed to repay their bill. "Being the seller of SIM cards, it cost me healthy," says Babu.

To recover from that Babu was forced to do some non-IT business like home loans, two-wheeler loans in 2006. He also had a training institute during those days. Besides, unluckily, due to various factors, his partners, dismantled themselves from the business and finally Babu's grabbed his own cup of tea-Apex Info Sys Solutions. Babu says that he lost many things believing a few people. However, the recent days are good for his firm. In fact, the growth for the last fiscal was a double-fold for the company.

‘SAY NO IF YOU DO NOT KNOW'

Babu says that the next generation does not like to be advised. However, he ask GenX to be humble enough to tell no if they do not know something. "Learning is always a long process and one should not hesitate to learn if they do not know anything," he suggests. Babu, says that Ravichandran of Jyoti agencies, Tirupur is a mentor of repute. "Ravichandran sir will learn from the scratch if he does not know anything which I admire," says Babu. He also advises new entrepreneurs not to be demotivated by the failures in their life. "Failures will always find their route to success. But it is up to us to convert the hindering stones as a stepping stone in our career," says Babu.

Advertisment

FAMILY

Babu got married with Shiki in 2007. Babu says that post-marriage, his growth has improved. The couple was gifted with baby boy Anirudh in 2009. "I can recollect my childhood days when I see my son, however, the only difference is he can get whatever he wishes", says Babu.

 

PAST

Babu is a versatile reader of variety of books. "Udaiyar, the biography of King Rajaraja Cholan with six volumes is a very good page-turner and I am in love reading it for the second time," he says. Apart from that, Babu is always passionate with technology and gadgets. This is needless to say why all his peers in Confed-ITA call him the ‘most tech-savvy' per­son in their forum. Babu also loves tra­ve­ling. "To be frank, I enjoyed my life being a bachelor and have traveled extensively across South-India. But now, life has changed completely and I am having a lot of responsibilities." Even though Babu is a die-hard fan of Rajinikanth, he loves movies with the combo of Kamal Hassan and writer ‘Crazy' Mohan. "I love the movie Vassolraja (Munna bhai in Hindi) and will even watch for hundred times," he says. APJ Abdul Kalam is his role-model. "His book Wings of Fire has taught me a lot of things in life," concluded Babu.

DAYS AHEAD

Even though Babu has bagged few overseas orders, he wants to get more orders from foreign shore.

Advertisment