The youngest ceo suhas gopinath

Vinodrai Engineers Pvt. Ltd.,
12 Km. Stone, Jalna-Aurangabad Road,
Village Dawalwadi, District : Jalna
Jalna – 431 203 ( India )
Ph: +91-2482-262000 Fax: +91-2482-262400
Web: vinodrai.com , E-Mail : vinodraieng@rediffmail.com

The Youngest CEO In The World.
By: Shobha Warrier in Bengaluru.
@ Rediff.com

When 14-year-old Suhas Gopinath started
Globals Inc ten years ago from a cyber
cafe in Bengaluru, he didn't know that he
had become the youngest CEO in the
world.

Today, Globals is a multi-million dollar
company with offices in the United States, India, Canada, Germany, Italy, the United
Kingdom, Spain, Australia, Singapore and the Middle East and has 100 employees in
India and 56 abroad.

Among the several honours that have been bestowed upon this young man, the most
prestigious is the invitation to be a member of the Board of the ICT Advisory Council of
the World Bank..

In 2007, the European Parliament and International Association for Human Values
conferred 'Young Achiever Award' on him. He was also invited to address the European
Parliament and other business dignitaries assembled in the EU Parliament. He is also
recognised as one of the 'Young Global Leaders' for 2008-2009 by the prestigious World
Economic Forum.

Suhas is the youngest member ever in the World Economic Forum's history. The other
members include the Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, Hollywood star Leonardo
DiCaprio, musician A R Rahman, Prince of Brunei, etc.

In this interview from his office in Bengaluru, Suhas Gopinath talks about his decade
long journey and his dreams for the future.

On his childhood

I come from a middle class family. My father
worked as a scientist for the Indian Army. I used to
study in the Air Force school in Bengaluru.

As a child, I was more interested in animals and
veterinary science. But when I saw my friends who
had home computers talk about it, I had this urge
to learn and talk in their wave length.

Pursuing excellence in rotational moulding.

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But we didn't have a computer at home. In those days, computers were very expensive
and we couldn't afford one.

So, what I did was, I located an Internet cafe near my house. With my modest monthly
pocket money of Rs 15, I couldn't afford to surf the net every day.

I noticed that the shop was closed in the afternoon from 1 PM to 4 PM. So, I offered to
open the shop for him after my school hours and take care of the customers.

In the bargain, he let me browse the net for free. That was the first business deal of my
life and it turned out to be a successful one.

On building websites using open source technology

Once I got the chance to manage the shop and browse the net, I started building websites.
It became my passion in no time.

I got hooked to open source technology after I started looking for e-books on how to
build websites. They were not available as they were created in propriety sources.

So, I started using open source to build websites.

On getting the first contract to build a
website

There is a freelance marketplace on the web
where I could register and offer my services
to build websites. I registered myself there as
a website builder.

The first website I had to do was free of cost
as I had no references. It was for a company
in New York.

My first income was $100 when I was 13 for
building another website but I didn't have a bank account. so, I told my father that I built
a website and got paid for it.

I was not excited to get the money because money was not a factor that drew me to it. It
was the passion for technology that attracted me. I used to build websites free of cost
also. I was only a 9th standard student.


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After that, I built my own portal and called it Coolhindustan.com. It was focused on
NRIs. It was a portal where I wanted to showcase my skills.

After that, many companies approached me to be their web designer.

On buying his first computer

When I was in the 9th standard itself, I had
made enough money to buy a computer for
myself. At that time, my brother was
studying engineering and my father thought
he needed a computer.

In no time, I also bought one for myself. But
we didn't have a net connection at home.

My spending hours in the net cafe working
on websites did affect my studies. I spent the
entire summer vacation after the 9th standard
in the cafe.

On rejecting a job offer from the US

When I was 14, Network Solutions offered
me a part-time job in the US and they said
they would sponsor my education in the US.
I rejected the offer because that was the time I had read a story about Bill Gates and how
he started Microsoft.

I thought it was more fun to have your own company. Many US companies used to tell
me that I didn't even have a moustache and they felt insecure taking my services. They
used to connect my ability with my age and academic qualifications.

So, I wanted to start my own company and show the world that age and academic
qualifications are immaterial. I decided then that when I started a company, I would
recruit only youngsters and I would not ask for their academic qualifications and marks
cards. I follow that in my company.

On starting his own company at 14

Soon after my 9th standard summer vacation, I started my own company, Globals Inc. I
wanted the name Global or Global Solutions but both were not available, so I named it
Globals.


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I registered my company in the US as in India, you will not be able to start a company
unless you are 18. It takes only 15 minutes to start a company in the US.

I became the owner and CEO of the company. My
friend, an American who was a university student,
became a board member.

I was very excited because that was what I wanted
to do. From that day, I started dreaming of making
my company as big as Microsoft.

On doing badly in school

In my pre-board CBSE exam, I failed in
Mathematics. The school headmistress was shocked
because that was the first time I had failed in any
subject. She called my mother and said she was horrified by my performance.

At home, like any typical South Indian mother, my mother made me swear on her head
that I would focus on academics.

I told my mother that the world's richest man Bill Gates had not completed his education.
Why do you force me then, I asked her. She then said, I am sure his horoscope and yours
are not the same!

I come from a family where entrepreneurship is considered a sin. My mother was quite
upset. She wanted me to do engineering, then an MBA and work in a good company.

As per my mother's wishes, I took a four-month sabbatical from my company and studied
for my board exam. I passed with a first class.

I still feel that you cannot restrict yourself to bookish knowledge. I believe that practical
knowledge is more important.

In the first year, the turnover of Globals Inc was Rs 1 lakh (Rs 100,000). The second
year, the turnover went up to Rs 5 lakh (Rs 500,000).

On looking at Europe as a market

Till I was 16 or 17, I didn't tell my parents that I had started a company. I kept it a secret
because I thought they would object to it. They only knew that I was a freelancer.


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We used to build websites and also offer online shopping and e commerce solutions. We
even gave part time work to a few programmers in the US when we got many projects
but we never had any office.

When I was 16, I saw that there were enormous
business opportunities in Europe as a majority of
the Indian IT companies were working for
American companies.

When I contacted a Spanish company, it rejected
my offer saying Indians do not know Spanish. As
an entrepreneur, you can't accept rejection,
especially when you are young.

I hired five student interns from some Spanish universities and told them they would be
paid based on their successful sales.

They were the people who met the companies and bagged the projects for us. By now, we
decided to have a home office in Spain.

I replicated the same model in Italy. I contacted some Italian university students.

On going to Germany to talk about entrepreneurship

The American newspapers were writing a lot
about me as the world's youngest CEO at 14 from
India, from a middle class background.

It was a good story for the BBC also. I never
expected to be in the limelight. For me, starting a
company was like realising a passion of mine.

On seeing these stories, a B-school in Germany
invited me to talk to its students on
entrepreneurship. I was 17 then. By now, I had completed my 12th standard and had
joined Engineering in Bengaluru.

When I was 18, we set up an office -- the European HQ in Bonn. Then, we moved to
Switzerland. Six months back, we started our operations in Vienna as well.

That is how we spread our operations from a small Internet cafe to become a
multinational company with significant operations in Europe, Middle East, the US,
Canada, the UK, Australia, etc.


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On registering a company in India at 18

The day I turned 18, I registered our
company in India as Globals, opened an
office and recruited four people. I opened
the office next to the Internet cafe where I
started my career.

By then, he had closed shop and joined a
factory as an employee. Whenever I met
him, I used to tell him, 'you made me an
entrepreneur but you stopped being one.'

On moving to creating products

We wanted our company also to be a product development company and our focus was
on education, like the software that manages everything about a child while in school
starting from admission till he/she leaves school and becomes an alumnus.

It is a nasty software which students are going to be quite unhappy about! This software
was aimed only at the Indian market. I want to be the market leader in ICT in education.

Our software is being used in more than 100 schools all over India, Singapore and the
Middle East.

We are now in the process of raising funds. Once we do it, we will separate the company
into two -- service and product development. I want to concentrate on products as I can't
sail on two boats.

On meeting former President Abdul Kalam

I met Dr Abdul Kalam when he was the President of India. I was 17 or 18 then. My
meeting was scheduled for 15 minutes but we had such an intense conversation that it
went on for one-and-a-half hours.

I didn't feel that I was talking to the President of India. We talked like two friends. He
was sitting in his chair across the table but after some time, he came and sat next to me.
He is such a modest person that it was a learning experience for me.


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On being on the board of the World Bank

As per the wishes of my parents, I joined engineering but didn't complete my
engineering: like Bill Gates! When I was in my 5th semester, the World Bank invited me
to attend their board meeting. I am the only Indian on the board of the World Bank.

The objective was to explore how ICT can improve the quality of education in the
emerging economies, by bringing in accountability and transparency in their financial
deeds.

Robert B. Zoellick, the president of the World
Bank, decided that they could not have only
Americans on the board and needed people
from across the world. As they were focussing
on education, they wanted young minds to add
value to the work.

He preferred a young mind from an emerging
country and that was how I got the invitation in
2005. Not even in my wildest dreams did I
imagine that I would be on the board of the World Bank. The invitation was the most
unforgettable moment in my life. I report directly to Robert B Zoellick!

Some of the others on the board are the CEO of Cisco, the vice president of Microsoft
and the CEO of SAP; all Fortune 500 companies and me, the only Indian!

I am helping the World Bank set policies on ICT in university education so that
employability can be enhanced. My aim is to reduce the number of unemployed eligible
youth in the world.

Right now, we are concentrating on Africa. Soon, I want to shift the focus on to India. It
has been an amazing experience for me.

But I had to discontinue my engineering education at the time I joined the board, as I
didn't have enough attendance in college!


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On his dreams for his company

I have always believed that IT is not just technology but a tool that can solve the
problems of people.

That is what I want to do in my company.

I want my company to be a
market leader in software
solutions concentrating on
education.

When I was younger, I didn't
care about money. Now that I
am responsible for my
employees, I care about what
we make. If I am not bothered
about money, we cannot scale
up our business.

When I started my company
from a net cafe in Bengaluru, I never ever imagined that one day my company would be a
multi-million dollar company and I would be on the World Bank board as a member.

What drives me is my passion and it has been an amazing journey so far.

Suhas on U Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYMo3vvzc5I


The youngest ceo suhas gopinath

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