Initial spark:
It was while on holiday in Narendranagar (near Rishikesh) in 1999 that Manoj Upadhyay got his first break as an entrepreneur. To his chagrin, he found that for a few hours nearly every day, the telephone exchange would switch off services because of the fear of lightning hitting the installation.
“It was absurd. There we were on the brink of the 21st century and something as basic as a telephone wasn’t working because of thunder clouds,” says Upadhyay. He came back to Delhi, brainstormed with two friends and worked on developing lightning surge protection systems for telecom sites.
“We tested our solution at various places in West Bengal and Kerala—the two states where lightning strikes are most frequent— and found it worked. I went back to Narendranagar and gifted it to the telecom department,” he says. Thus was formed Upadhyay’s first entrepreneurial venture— Adhunik Power Systems (APS)—in December, 1999.
It provided power protection and management services to a host of companies across various sectors. Started with an initial investment of Rs 2 lakh, drawn from the savings of the three friends, the company clocked a turnover of Rs 30 crore in 2003-4.
Days as an employee:
After completing a three-year diploma course in electronic engineering from the government polytechnic in Saharanpur, Upadhyay joined
 | |
| Education | Diploma in electronic engineering |
| Last job | Technology head, Benning India |
| No. of years as employee | 6 years |
| Age at starting business | 27 years |
| Initial investment (in Acme) | Rs 10 lakh |
| Sources of fund | Sale of previous business |
| Company | Acme Tele Power |
| Turnover | Rs 667 crore (2006-7); Rs 700 crore (Apr-Sep ’07) |
| No. of employees | 975 |
“That was my first experience of world-class designed products,” he says. The other lessons from his four-year stint with Benning was the importance of being reliable and to innovate. “You have to redesign for the Indian context.
Just importing a foreign product will not work,” he says. It was also during his frequent visits to Germany that Upadhyay came across the concept of “green” power and the growing demand from industry to save on energy costs. But the constant travelling—“I had to stay in Germany for 20 days of the month”—was something that Upadhyay’s parents disapproved of.
It was not just parental pressure that forced him to put in his papers in 1999. “When it came to technology, foreigners didn’t think highly of India. Some of them thought we were good just for backroom work. Others thought we could only copy technology patented by others,” he says. The desire
to prove them wrong was another push factor. And so was born APS.
Breakthrough:
In January 2003, Upadhyay sold his stake at APS to his two collaborators for Rs 10 lakh and launched Acme Tele Power. “By 2002, I had realised that APS’s potential as a business venture was limited. And my vision was much bigger,” he says. But he wasn’t very sure of what he wanted to do. After working as a consultant on energy saving matters for some time, he was approached by Bharti Airtel.
The telecom major was facing problems of irregular and fluctuating power supply to its towers, especially those in rural areas. After months of intense analysis, Upadhyay came up with a power interface unit which helped solve the problem. The beginning had been made. Over the next few years, a slew of energy-saving products for telecom sites followed: nano cool shelters, thermal management system, telecom air conditioners, fuel cells among others. All these products are included in what Upadhyay calls a “green shelter”.
Tripping over:
“Today we are one of the leading global players in manufacturing energy-efficient, environment-friendly products. But it wasn’t so easy,” he admits. Being a small company—Upadhyay had five employees when he started—without a brand name was the first big hurdle. Personal contacts had to be leveraged.
Companies would baulk at the idea of paying in advance for projects. It was during this time that he set out a few business rules, which would also become his business model.TIPS FOR STARTING OUT |
| Investment: The investment is more in the innovative idea than in actual capital. If you have an idea, then there are financial institutions to fund your project |
| Skills: Analytical; able to grasp the customer’s problems |
| Staff: Start with the bare minimum. Cut overheads. Once you have orders then hire |
| Manufacture or outsource: Because of credibilty issues, a budding entrepreneur should have a manufacturing unit of his own |
First, that Acme had to be a pioneer in technology. The company had to find solutions, and cheap ones, that others couldn’t. Second, the product had to be environment friendly. And finally, the product had to pay back the investment in 15 months. “Capital was always at a premium. So, I told my clients that they could pay me in tranches the savings they made using my products,” he says.
The wait wasn’t too long. Telecom companies realised that by using Upadhyay’s products they saved around 30% of their energy costs. Today, nearly all the major Indian telecom companies are his clients. There are a few international clients as well, including Grameen Telecom, Lucent Technologies and Ericsson.
Powering ahead:
Acme’s core strength—technology—has seen it setting up research and development units in Manesar (Haryana), the US, Canada and the Czech Republic. It has also gone global by acquiring Norwegian telecom infrastructure maintenance company Reime Network Implementation Services in October 2007. Reime has a strong presence in a number of African countries as well as in Indonesia and the Philippines.
“The African countries will soon see a boom in telecom services. We want to be there when the opportunity arises,” says Upadhyay. The company is planning to raise money by making an initial public offer.
A draft red herring prospectus has already been filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. The company had earlier raised $50 million by selling equity to Singapore-based merchant bank DB International (Asia) and to private equity capital funds Earthstone Holdings and Kotak Mahindra Capital. A self-confessed workaholic, Upadhyay logs in around 14 hours at work every day. “I don’t think of it as work; it’s more like a passion or conviction,” he says.
Whatever free time is there is taken up by his three-yearold daughter and reading books by management gurus. His success mantra is: look for problems because opportunities lie there.
