In 1983, a young mechanical engineering rejected a plum offer from the Tata Group to join the newly formed IT team of a company called Western Indian Products best known for producing 'Dalda' cooking oil. 25 years later, this man - Pradeep Kar, CMD, Microland; serial entrepreneur and former WIPROite - recalled his entrepreneurial journey at Fusion, E Week's closing ceremony and inspired over 2,000 students with his work.
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| Pradeep Kar inspiring students at Closing Ceremony |
"All were surprised when I chose to join WIPRO, which wasn't such a big brand name then. They were just venturing into IT, one of the earliest companies to do so, and I realized that it was a risk worth taking. Understanding technology was important to me, and my stint in WIPRO exposed me to a whole new world," he said.
Since then, he has taken several leaps forward. A serial entrepreneur, Pradeep has founded Planetasia, India's first Internet Professional Services Company (which was acquired by a US Software Services company), Indya.com, India's leading portal (which was acquired by News Corporation) and Net Brahma, a telecom software company (that was acquired by a US telecom equipment company in 2001). He merged his Internet Media Business, Media2india with Connecturf (India's leading online marketing company) and also founded ITspace, India's premier technology portal.
In 1989, he founded Microland, an IT Infrastructure Services company that now has several Fortune 100 companies in its client list.
Situations, Chances and Experience - these are the three mantras he swears by. "India is now a trillion dollar economy with innumerable opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs. Try and try till you succeed. Be optimistic, stay focused, and remember that it is finally your responsibility alone to sell your vision to the people," Kar said.
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