Leaders' Talk

While there are many who win honours and accolades in their life, very few are modest enough to share the credit for their achievements. Dr Harish Hande, managing director, Selco Solar Pvt Ltd, has empowered more than 20,000 rural households with his solar solutions. He attributes the success of Selco to his colleagues who have been constantly working on innovative solutions. Currently, Selco, which is one of India’s leading solar technology firms, has earned revenues of Rs 160 million and a profit of Rs 8 million, with projected revenues of Rs 240 million by 2013-14 and Rs 300 million by 2015. Dr Hande has won a number of awards like Asia’s prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2011, Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy, Accenture Economic Development Award and the world’s leading green energy award from Prince Charles – all in 2005. In 2007, he won the Social Entrepreneur of the Year award, before going on to win many more. Currently, Dr Hande wants the youth to take up his solar lighting model to each non-electrified region in the country. In a conversation with Nitasha Chawla of Electronics Bazaar, Dr Hande gets candid about his vast experience in rural areas and how these have shaped his life.

Self-confidence in business is all about knowing what you want, and believing that you can achieve it. Here’s a man who has proved this by taking the untrodden path and making it big. Meet RK Bansal, a self-made entrepreneur, under whose leadership Uniline Energy Systems has grown by leaps and bounds. Today, Uniline has many government and other prestigious projects to its credit and is growing each year. Founded in 1989, Uniline is run from a 1393.54 sq m, modern sales and service area in south Delhi. It has three factories with an inhouse R&D centre in New Delhi, and two large scale manufacturing units at Parwanoo, Himachal Pradesh. It has a strength of 300. With the aim to make India energy reliant by 2017, Bansal is planning to hire 150 youngsters who would take Uniline solutions to 50+ cities across India and overseas. Needless to say, the reputation earned by Uniline has been possible due to the sheer grit and determination of RK Bansal, whose vision to bring advanced power solutions technologies to India has resulted in various innovations in the UPS systems space, which are now widely used across different sectors. In a chat with Nitasha Chawla of Electronics Bazaar, RK Bansal, managing director, Uniline Energy Systems, shares his journey, from an engineer and growing to become a successful leader.

Success isn’t in the numbers, believes Sunil Vachani, chairman and managing director, Dixon Technologies. He is among the few assiduous leaders who have been tirelessly engrossed in reviving the electronics industry. Having spent almost two decades in the industry, he has had his own share of successes and failures. Despite the trials faced, he is confident of riding the crest of the wave. His passion for electronics is unmatched, and the confidence and optimism he exudes is contagious. Speaking to Richa Chakravarty of Electronics Bazaar, Sunil Vachani recounts his journey within the industry as well as the course his life has taken.

From a modest beginning more than 20 years back, Victor Component Systems Pvt Ltd is today one of the leading manufacturers of electronic components...

As I waited at Nirmitsu Technologies, I saw a simply dressed man walk into his cabin. He greeted everyone around with a smile in his eyes, through he has a visual problem of adjusting to light and see clearly due to a retinal problem. Meet Ganesh Gudigara, managing director and CEO of Nirmitsu Technologies, a technology solutions provider. Gudigara has always been determined to not let his disability come in the way of success. Gudigara, who suffers from a retinal problem called retinitis pigmentosa, runs Nirmitsu Technologies, along with his brother, Ashok Gudigara, and a friend, Satish B

Their 15 years of relentless service to establish VisionTek has proved fruitful. Today, their efforts have established the company as an expert in innovative project-and product-based solutions. VisionTek has a reputation for consistently delivering high quality and cost effective telecom and software products and services to its clients. Meet the couple behind the success of this SME, which has received several awards for excellence in electronics from the Government of India and ELCINA. Krishna Prasad, managing director and his wife, Radha Rani, executive director, VisionTek, share a common vision to take the company to greater heights. Here’s the story of their inspiring personal and professional journey of success and failures, as narrated to Richa Chakravarty of Electronics Bazaar.

Born in a small town like Hassan in Karnataka could not deter him from reaching for the sky, with the sun as his guiding light. This simple yet intelligent boy would rise to heights, believed his school teachers. His passion for the environment and determination to achieve the impossible has made him the man he is today. Meet the solar man, who believes in the potential of solar energy to build a better world, who lives a simple life in harmony with nature, who aspires to bring light to more than a billion lives, who has great faith in Generation X, and is optimistic about seeing his country on the world map as a super power. In a freewheeling chat with Srabani Sen of Electronics Bazaar, K Subramanya, chief executive officer, Tata BP Solar, looks back with pride at the millions of lives the company has touched and impacted. With about three decades of rich experience, Subramanya is steering Tata BP Solar into an exciting new future. His leadership has made a lasting impact on the solar industry. He narrates the interesting and eventful story of his life, which begins in a small town, but with the backing of a large family.

A G Rohira, a successful bankerturned businessman and now, president of ELCINA, has many feathers in his cap. The dynamic 69-year-old shares with us his triumphant journey

There is more to what appears behind the gentlemanly facade of Sanjiv Narayan, managing director, SGS Tekniks. He is a man with strong will power and an indomitable attitude. The reputation, recognition and fame that Sanjiv Narayan enjoys was not earned overnight.

Building up a company or a brand from the scratch seems to be his forte. With sheer determination and hard work Rakesh Malhotra, CEO,...

The first thing people notice about him is, almost invariably, his flawless personality. Born in a journalistic and writers’ background, he had always been anxious to prove he is more than just a son of two popular writers—his parents—and this is reflected in the challenging roles he took on since he was very young. He is known and recognised in the industry as a senior technology leader with an experience of over 25 years in the solar energy space. He has built and integrated professionals into result oriented multidisciplinary teams and has been instrumental in scaling up and validation of thin film technologies from research into production. Meet the man who brought sunshine in many a lives and saw very closely how solar energy completely changed people’s lives. Changing the direction of his life a couple of times, Rajiv Arya is presently the CEO of Moser Baer Photovoltaic Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Moser Baer India Ltd. Arya’s story is one of determination, focus and perseverance

Building up a company or a brand from scratch seems to be his forte. With sheer determination and hard work, Sanjeev Sehgal, managing director, Samriddhi Automations, better known as Sparsh, has overcome all failures and hurdles that came his way. Riding on the accolades he received through the ‘Leaders of Tomorrow’ Award, this entrepreneur is proceeding on a new journey. Meet the man who personifies entrepreneurial zeal, to whom no challenge is an obstacle, and who is surging ahead with an aim to do something different and to turn every challenge into a success story…