Suhas Gopinath 3v3m67

Contributed by: Rajeev Roy, Associate Professor, XIMB, India.

Suhas Gopinath * Brajaraj Mohanty1 & Rajeev Roy2

1.0 THE WONDERKID

2.0 HOW IT STARTED

On March 1, 2006, CBS News Agency made the headlines about the Indian wonderkid, Suhas Gopinath. As its Chief Foreign Correspondent Lara Logan reported, six years back, Suhas at the age of 14 had become the World’s youngest Chief Executive. By 2006, he was the boss of a global software company that spanned over 11 countries including the United States. It was a remarkable achievement by any standard. In India, a developing country saddled with the largest number of the world’s poor, it was nothing short of a miracle.

Suhas wanted to be a veterinarian. A chance visit in mid 1990’s, when he was 12, to an internet café, which opened next door to his house, changed his life. His elder brother Shreyas took him there and he was fascinated at the internet. “He explained me how the internet works and also opened my email id. The next day, I went to school to find that I was the only one in the class to have an email id but I was not satisfied with just that….. Somehow I liked the touch of the mouse and wanted to play with the key board. I used to sit in the cyber centre all the time. I used to get Rs.30 as pocket money at that time and I used the entire money in the cyber café. While an hour at cyber café would cost me Rs.120, I requested the cafe owner to allow me to work for him after my school hours and let me use internet for free. Luckily, he agreed. For the next six months, I learnt how to make web-sites and was introduced to many technologies. I learnt HTML, ASP and every possible software at the Cyber

Suhas was inspired by none other than Microsoft’s Bill Gates. He had set up his IT Services Company, Global Inc., while simultaneously studying in a school at Bangalore in India. The Company in its fourth year employed 600 persons – the youngest of them was a 10- year old and an advisor on web design. Age was not a barrier for employment in his company. The maximum age of an employee in the company was 32 and the average was around 21. * 1 2

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Received August 20, 2007; Revised September 12, 2007. The case is based on published materials, website information and personal experience of the authors with Mr. Gopinath Professor, Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar. email: [email protected]

Published in Vilakshan, XIMB Journal of Management ; September, 2007

Café. I opted for self- learning instead of going to an institute”, says Suhas. “I had no knowledge of the Internet. But when I was browsing the internet in a cyber café I stumbled on a source code of a web site. I was fascinated and thought long and hard. I soon launched my own website, www.coolhindustan.com,” he adds. That had happened when he was not even 14 years old. The site was launched in May 14 2000 and two friends Clifford Leslie and M.N. Vinay helped him in this effort. “I didn’t have the money to launch the website. So I wrote to Network Solutions Inc. in the US and they readily agreed to host the site free of cost.” Network Solutions also invited Suhas to its headquarters in San Jose, California. It was the first time he had boarded a plane and also the first time that he had gone outside India. In the US, Network Solutions even asked him to maintain their website as Chief Web Developer at $2000 per week with a chauffeur driven car and an apartment. It was quite attractive but Suhas turned down the offer. He wanted to start his own company rather than be employed by a Fortune 500 company. Suhas spent hours at the local cyber café figuring codes, reading books on Bill Gates and Michael Dell and preparing to start an IT company. He had fortunately and accidentally an encounter on an internet discussion board with a US university student in 2003 who was

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interested to Suhas. Two teenage friends from Bangalore from his middle class neighbourhood were also willing to him. However, his attempt to launch a private limited company ran into difficulty, as the laws in India did not allow a kid of 14 to start a company. Suhas decided to turn to US where such a law did not exist. Thus, Global’s Inc was set up in California and ed online in San Jose. Suhas initially planned that his company should be named Globals Solutions but that name was already taken. He opted for Globals with himself as its founder, CEO and president. Two years later, it had offices in 11 countries and employed over 600 people. In the year 2004 – 05 the company notched up an earning of Indian Rs.2.5 crore. Suhas always thought that he should start his company in Bangalore but was disappointed. In a meeting with President Abdul Kalam he requested for relaxation of this age limit so that other young entrepreneurs could easily set up their companies. The President promised his . Initially Suhas faced many obstacles. The most important of them being from the potential customers. When they learn that Suhas was barely 14, they cancelled their orders and refused to take him seriously. To overcome this difficulty he started growing a moustache as soon as he began sprouting facial hair, but this also didn’t help much. Soon on the advice of the friends he shaved it off.

Published in Vilakshan, XIMB Journal of Management ; September, 2007

Word gradually spread around about the ability of the Globals Inc. and as Suhas hired more and more people and opened new offices, potential customer started coming back to Globals and for Suhas there was no time to look back.

complex business. The portfolio of products and services comprise the following: 1.

IT strategy.

2.

Procurement and partnership

3.0 ABOUT BUSINESS

3.

Business Process Improvement

For Suhas IT was a pastime, which turned into an obsession. It was because of his interest that he worked on it and later other friends ed him. Initially it was a team of four. At the beginning they went to the extent of offering their services free of cost. As most of them were studying and were interested in the work, they did not mind. However gradually they realised that in order to sustain they had to charge the clients. At the same time their service charges were quite competitive vis a vis others in the business.

4.

Information Management

5.

Contract Development

6.

Web Deg

7.

Web Development

8.

Content Management System

9.

Internet Marketing

Globals Inc. offered cost effective solutions in web, software, mobile and multimedia. The company designed and developed B2B portals, B2C portals and corporate websites. In the words of Suhas “ We aim to bring out robust services within a mouse click and we believe in teamwork. Projects are undertaken by Globals to build the skills of the team . Most of the work from cyber cafes.” By 2005 it had established offices in more than 11 countries and served more than 200 clients world wide. Globals also offered IT consultancy involving practical jargon free advice to clients to cope with first changing and often

In developing cost effective, innovative world class solutions and products Globals has made a name for itself and carved out an enviable place for itself in the industry. Its has as clients, a number of companies from small and medium sized to fortune 500 companies. Every company is treated uniquely, taking into its distinct needs. Its clients included the following well-known companies:

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10. Media Streaming 11. Custom Application Development/ Custom Software Development 12. Industry Solutions 13. WAP

1.

Verisign Inc., USA

2.

Edunar UK

3.

Government of India

4.

Opalesque.com,

Published in Vilakshan, XIMB Journal of Management ; September, 2007

5.

VC4G.com

6.

Jain Group of Institutions, India

7.

Deepti Electronics and Electro – Optics Pvt. Ltd., India

8.

Childern Services Inc., USA

9.

Maso Automotives, India

10. Greys Exim, India. Globals operated on a world wide basis with offices in 11 countries including USA, India, Canada, Bahrain, Italy, UK, , Spain and Australia and in addition there were operations in Singapore, Norway, Switzerland, South Africa etc. 4.0 WORK CULTURE

Globals is not only a young organisation but majority of its employees in India and abroad are also young college going students. Many of these are part timers and the average age in Globals is 21 years. ing Globals Inc. is open to students in the age group of 17 – 22. In order to avoid employment of such young people being termed as ‘child labour’, Globals ensures that such people worked only on part time basis from their home where they are provided with internet connections and PC. They are given instructions through a message board. Their hip to the Globals network is free of cost and based on their skill set and not qualifications. Once a candidate is selected he is put on to a project and becomes a member of the Globals family. Any candidate can apply online if he is

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convinced that he can bring in some relevant skills to Globals. About the age of employees, Suhas says “the upper limit is 25 years and we are basically looking for people in their teens or twenties. Enterprise is more important than high academic qualifications.” About the age of Vice President of operations, V.N.D Manohar, Suhas says that he is the oldest member of the team, but Manohar says “ I may be older but Suhas is more experienced. He is the boss.” During a conversation, Suhas says that he does not treat his colleagues as employees. There in a friendly environment just like in a family. Suhas is also concerned that the employees who work with the company get an excellent environment to work and have adequate opportunities for sports, leisure and relaxation. During a visit to Bhubaneswar for an entrepreneurship seminar, where he was talking to a young audience, he explored the possibility of setting up a research and development centre in Bhubaneswar. He visited Nandankanan (a zoological park), Puri, Chilka and several other places of interest to find out that, in the event of a R & D centre coming up, his employees would get sufficient avenues in and around Bhubaneswar to keep themselves engaged. 5.0 ORGANISATION STRUCTURE

Globals already has a management structure in place. There is a Chief Operating Officer, Chief Information

Published in Vilakshan, XIMB Journal of Management ; September, 2007

Officer, Chief Technology Officer, other department heads and several regional heads in USA, Spain, Italy, Australia, Bahrain, Canada and

. The names of the management team regional heads and of Board by Directors are given below:

Management Team Chief Executive Officer & President

Suhas Gopinath

Chief Operating Officer & Senior Vice President, Finance

Vinay M.N.

Chief Technology Officer and Vice President, Software Solutions

Samuel S Carre

Senior Vice President, e-Commerce & Web Solutions

Vantt Chris

Executive Vice President, Worldwide Human Resources

Micheal Vaughan

Executive Vice President, Strategy and Marketing

Amruta Desai

Regional Heads Regional Head – Dulles, USA Regional Head – Madrid, Spain Regional Head – Milan, Italy

Paul Samberg Alberto Sanchexz Plaza Giancarlo Ambrosini

Regional Head – South Australia, Australia

Abhishek Devraj

Regional Head – Manama, Bahrain

Titus Varghese

Regional Head – Quebec, Cannada

Manjesh Muthapa

Regional Head, Cologne, .

Ehsan Rehman

Board of Directors Chairman of the Board (CEO Deepti Marketing Services) Vice Chairman of the Baord (CEO, Globals Inc.)

Mr. M.R. Gopinath Mr. Suhas Gopinath

Executive Director (COO, Globals Inc.) Non-Executive Director (Chairman, Jain Group of institutions).

Mr. R Chenraj Jain

Non – Executive Director (CEO Deepti Electronics and Electro-Optics Pvt. Ltd.)

Dr. Sheshadri M.R.

Executive Director (Legal Counsel, Globals Inc.) Non-Executive Director (NASA – Washington DC. © XIMB

Mr. Vinay M. N.

Published in Vilakshan, XIMB Journal of Management ; September, 2007

Mr. Joshi D.N. Dr. Narayan Rao

6.0 FINANCE AND COST

Globals strategy was to have steady growth, low cost pricing and a focus on small and medium enterprises. It also worked in products like school information management system which has a great potential in the third world countries. “While a competitor offers this products at the cost of Rs. 2 lakh we offer it around Rs.15,000/- . We are aiming at smaller schools,” says Suhas. This is to some extent explained by the cost competitiveness of Globals. One of the other cost aspects was related to the setting up of the company. “I did not my company in India as one has to pay taxes and there are other hassles,” he said. “The rates we charge are very cheap. If you want to set up your own site we charge only 300 rupees.” Infact for a client in Frankfurt, Globals designed a corporate website and charged only about this much. Speaking about the way that Globals keeps its cost down, Suhas mentioned about the salary of talented programmers in the US versus India. In the US, the programmers were paid a higher salary but the actual cost to the company was much higher. In addition to the salary there were statutory payments to each employee. Besides infrastructure cost such as hardware, software, utility and space cost got added to the overheads. On the whole, while a twelve man month project which took approximately a year for a programmer in US and costed about one lakh dollar, the same could be

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completed in about six months in India and at an approximately cost of Rs.25, 000. In case of team programmers Suhas gave the component of cost estimate and efforts required for the typical project as follow: Activity Component

Percent of total cost

Percent of total effort

Analysis of Architecture and Design

20

15

Project Management

28

20

Development & testing

52

65

When asked about the general orientation towards profit, the response was “ the company is not a money making machine. Students below 22 can become employees. The aim as of now is to get more and more students to . They work out of cyber cafes in India where they have to pay Indian Rs.15 (1/3 rd of a US dollar per hour) which is cheap by the world standards. When Suhas started out, the rates at cyber cafes were much higher but since then rates have dropped drastically. About the earnings of Globals’ employees it was observed that the employees in India earn between Rs. 20,000 to 25,000 a month. ( approximately equal to US $ 550 to 650) which is considered as a good wage in India but is about one third of what the Globals employees get (approximately

Published in Vilakshan, XIMB Journal of Management ; September, 2007

US $1500) in the western countries. Commenting on this the Head of Finances, Globals says “For us, money isn’t why we work for Globals. The atmosphere and the fun are much more important to us. There aren’t any hierarchies here.” About growth and investment in the company, Suhas clarified “Now as my company grows, I invest all the profit back into the future of my company. I wish I could provide employment to all the talent in our country,” says Suhas. No wonder many of his classmates are his employees. 7.0 UNUSUAL EXPERIENCES

Being a Chief Executive at the age of 14, and still not 21, Suhas had his share of weird experiences – sometimes amusing and pleasant and at other times painful. In 2004, at a seminar on “Education System in India” at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, he was stopped by the security persons at the gate. “You are a school boy, this event is for the CEOs.” He picked up his cell phone and called the organisers, who rushed to the entrance to usher him in. Everyone was amused. Suhas knew that it was nobody’s fault. The security personnel, who has been instructed to allow only the CEOs, could hardly know that this young man in jeans and T shirt, looking like a college boy, was a CEO of a Global company.

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Suhas also had some experiences at his college and with his classmates. It bothered him, to his embarrassment that his fellow students called him ‘Sir’, took pictures of him on his cell phones and asked for autographs. Suhas cannot forget one of his bad time after launching of his first website www.coolhindustan.com. The web site was to provide Indians all over the world with a forum to post public events, tips for eating out and other programmes which would be of interest to overseas Indians. The website became very popular. However, a hacker in Pakistan attacked the website and replaced the website logo with “Cool Pakistan”. That was a terrible experience and Suhas abandoned the project. Suhas owns a car, bought out of his earnings, but doesn’t have a license to drive it around the city as he is too young to get a license! As a CEO, he wraps up mega deals, but he couldn’t sign on the dotted line as legally he was not an adult when the Singapore based company, SingT, a Business Process Outsourcing company was offering a contract to set up web sites with e-library capabilities. This could have given an earning of $22000 but the contract fell through because he could not sign the contract under the Indian law as he was underaged.

Published in Vilakshan, XIMB Journal of Management ; September, 2007

Suhas says that he likes his casual wear, jeans and T- shirts, but most of the time he is forced to wear blazers. He also wanted to be himself – never wanted to be a star. 8.0 EXPERIENCES WITH PAKISTAN

The first experience with his website ‘coolhindustan.com’ which was hacked by a hacker in Pakistan and made into ‘coolpakistan.com’ was quite disheartening to Suhas. He abandoned the website but he didn’t abandon the idea of opening an office in Pakistan. Speaking about the Pakistan IT companies, he states “There are only five to eight IT companies in Pakistan. A lot of the packages for the government and private sector are outsourced to the middle east. There is great potential in having a base in Pakistan.” While pursuing the idea of setting up a branch in Pakistan, there were objections from the Commerce Ministry that no Indian company could set up office on Pakistan soil. The objection faded away when it was explained that it was not an Indian Company but a company set up in California. The branch office was to function under the control of Pakistan’s Industry Department and the employees were to be sourced from Pakistan itself. There was a discussion with the Pakistan Prime Minister Shri

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Shaukat Aziz who had promised to allot land near Lahore. Suhas was also considering Karachi as an alternative location. If his dream of setting up a office in Pakistan comes true it would be one of the rare achievements which many Indians would not dare to dream. 9.0 PARENTS’ CONCERNS

Suhas’ father, M.R. Gopinath, a Scientist with the Defence Ministry, was happy that his son had chosen what he liked and done well during the seven years. At the same time he does not want Suhas to neglect his studies. “To us, it’s important that he gets a degree, education is the most important thing in India” the father says. His parents first thought that he was spending hours just goofing off at cyber cafes and were worried about him. “We were very worried about him earlier. Things had changed in the last three to four years, his luck has changed. He still spends too much time on work and little on studies,” says his mother. Kala Gopinath, the mother, disapproved that he spent every rupee in the internet café. She was worried that Suhas had been a good student but after discovering the internet he had become an average student. In the Board examination he secured poor marks in mathematics. She lectured him on the importance of doing well in studies. His parents put pressure on

Published in Vilakshan, XIMB Journal of Management ; September, 2007

him to finish school and study something practical to get a secure job. Later of course the parents reconciled when Suhas was doing well. But his mother was worried that her son ate and slept too little. She put more of idlis and vegetables on his plate. “This can’t be healthy. Today he lay on the sofa until 4 a.m. working on his laptop. Then at 8:00 he went into the Office”, she complained. The mother also insisted that Suhas shall have his office only at a walking distance so that without using car he can come for lunch. Accordingly, his office is located at a five minutes walking distance. Suhas enjoys the affectionate insistence of his mother. His mother always wanted that Suhas takes his studies seriously, studies management and like his elder brother, becomes a Vice President in a company with a good salary. In this context Suhas mentions, “Initially when my mom used to scold me, I used to give her Bill Gates’s example. He is my role model.” “My ambition is to set up another Microsoft” he adds. Suhas was asked to deliver talks at several top management institutes in India, including the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. When his mother tells him to study management, he replies, “why study there? I have been invited there as visiting faculty.”

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10. TIME MANAGEMENT

In the second year of his engineering programme at MS Ramaiah Engineering College in Bangalore, Suhas works for about 18 hours every day, partly for his studies, and mostly as CEO of his multinational company. In an interview to Time Magazine he said, “Most of our business comes from the US market. When the day’s work in done here, by around 6 pm, I get a couple of hours rest and then video conference with clients and staff in the US working till around 3 am”. Knowing the importance of his job, the management of the college has waived the attendance requirement for him. Suhas uses this waiver to his full advantage. While other kids skip lectures to watch movies, Suhas misses lectures to attend seminars and conferences. Unlike other students who believe partying and spending time in Cafes, restaurants and multiplexes, he studies for engineering and works for the growth of his company. When asked about leisure and enjoyment Suhas says, “Whatever little time I get, I spend it with my family. I cannot afford to watch movies or go for holidays…. (of course) one should also make time to enjoy other things in life. With work you get too busy to repent.” When asked about how he manages his time and what is his inspiration, he replied, “My role model is Microsoft

Published in Vilakshan, XIMB Journal of Management ; September, 2007

Promoter–Chairman Bill Gates. I want my company to become another Microsoft. Attending college and running a company at the same time is not easy. But I’ve learnt to divide and manage my time well,” says Gopinath. 11. LIFE STYLE, COMMITMENT ETC.

Suhas feels happy about his company. He seems to be quite attached to it. In 2005 when an investment firm from Huston offered 100 million dollars for a majority stake in the company, Suhas refused. The reason was “Why should I sell my baby”. In the initial years he had a hard time. Apart from the teething troubles in setting up the company he was too young to run it. Many clients were not keen about the company. But after seeing the quality of work they delivered, many of them came back. When asked about how he got some rest and leisure, his response was “When I look around I see a lot of guys of my age hanging out with their girlfriends. I do not feel bad as I have a mission to make my company another Microsoft,” Gopinath said “Bill Gates is my role model.” Suhas could have a Chauffeured driven car and live in a penthouse or buy a bunglow for his parents in a posh locality of Bangalore, but he lives with his parents in a medium size house and drives a small car. He doesn’t wear designer clothes. Ordinary jeans and T-shirts were his favourites.

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Apart from Business for which he spends 18 hours a day, he spends some of his spare times with his family and to some extent with his dog names Bushy. He has no time to go to a cinema hall to watch a movie or to watch cricket matches. 12. AWARDS & ACCOLADES

Suhas employs about 600 persons around the World and was the youngest Chief Executive of any Company. The Limca Book of Records – the Indian Version of the Guinness Book of Records – lists him as the “World’s Youngest Chief Executive”. He was, at the age of 14, the Chief Executive of Globals Inc., and no one else had become Chief Executive of any Company at that age. Suhas also got the recognition of being one of the youngest certified webdevelopers. After seven days of his putting up the webpage, “coolhindustan.com”, the US based Network Solutions Inc., a company owned by Nasdaq-listed Verisign, which develops internet services, acknowledged his ability and certified him as one of the world’s youngest web page developers. Suhas has been a model for the young men and women, not only India but outside. Politicians and young professionals have celebrated him as an achiever and as an inspiration. He also had meetings with the Indian President, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam at New Delhi and

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Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Mr. Shaukat Aziz in Islamabad. The Indian President Dr. Kalam and the HRD Minister, Arjun Singh also felicitated him. In 2004 Gloals Inc. also launched three unique software products and the BBC and Washington Post acknowledged him as the ‘world’s youngest CEO’. In 2005, Suhas Gopinath was one of the finalists of the Infosys Education World Young Achievers Award. In 2005, he was also the youngest among the 175 recipients of the Karnataka State Government’s Rajyotsava Award. In December, 2006, Suhas at the age of 20 was selected by the Times of India of Time Group as one of the Youth Icons for the year 2006. The other Youth Icons for the year 2006 included Indian Tennis player Sania Mirza, Bollywood Actor Hrithik Roshan, Industrialist Sunil Bharti Mittal, etc. Suhas Gopinath is also a brand ambassador for the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). 13. SOCIAL PROJECTS

Globals Inc. has been in a position to identify unfilled market niches. It developed a software product for school that allows teachers to easily enter grades and attendance, which parents could access electronically and know whether their children are showing up to class. Attendance status and marks could also be seen on a

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virtual notice board. The system also sent SMS alerts to the parents’ cell phones in case of continued absence or poor performance of a student. This software was installed in hundred schools in Nigeria and nearly hundred in European countries. It has also been accepted by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan in India for introduction in all its 870 schools across the country and also in Mosco and Dubai. Suhas has a grand plan of selling the software to the private schools also in India where there lie a great potential. Besides the Student Management System, Suhas is taking initiatives to develop a GPS based low cost vehicle tracking system which would be tailor made for Indian automobiles and for Indian road conditions. He hopes to sell each unit of the tracking system for Rs.5000 whereas the cheapest available system now in Indian market costs around Rs.20,000 and upwards. This system is also likely to have a big potential in the third world countries. 14. THE FUTURE

For Globals initial teething troubles were almost over. But Suhas felt that though initial interest and dedication had made it successful and he had become the chief executive officer, what mattered was the ability to expand the company. The job of managing the company had become easier because he treated his employees as family and friends than acting like a boss.

Published in Vilakshan, XIMB Journal of Management ; September, 2007

Suhas was planning to start management consultancy for the industry sector as well and expand services to non-IT areas.

he was planning to go to Stanford University and study artificial intelligence.

The general thrust in the company was placed on quality over quantity, mind over machine and unity over uniopinion. There was no question of egoistic thought. Everyone worked with lot of enthusiasm. The work was more streamlined and solutions were achieved within prescribed time boundary.

Globals HR strategy of recruiting skilled local youngsters, who would be happy to work part time, is key to their expansion plans. Domestic expansion for Globals is guided by the concentration of engineering and management colleges. In places with a high concentration of such educational institutes, it was felt easy to find local students to Globals as part time employees.

Suhas always thought of having his company as an Indian company and looked forward to shift the headquarters in due course to India. However on crossing the 18 year age mark, which entitled him to company in India, he has ed a company in Bangalore as Globals ITES. Suhas has his own dreams for becoming the Bill Gates in India and setting up a company, which in due course would be like Microsoft. At an age when other teenagers are whiling away time in games and other pastimes, Suhas was occupied in drawing a road map for his young company. Globals Inc. is small but Suhas looks forward to achieve a turnover of Rs.8 crore in the next five years. He looks forward to have many more young technical people and expand his business into networking solutions and embedded software. At a personal level

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It is also in the news that he wished to move from service based company into a products based one for which the Company needed funds. These funds were proposed to be utilized to open market offices and onsite centre in Europe, which had largely remained untapped by Indian IT companies. Keeping with its plan to expand in Europe, Globals has already opened in Frankfurt an R&D business development sector. Frankfurt being the most important commercial centre in Europe, is likely to become a good hub for Globals in the European markets. The company has some clients in including the prestigious of Mercedes Benz for whom Globals is executing a web application project. There is also a proposal and talks are in progress in this regard with a London

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based financial institution to sell 20 to 25% stake in Globals Inc. to this financial institution to fuel the expansion plans. If this happens, expansion could be faster. And later the company can make public offerings through which funds can be raised and the London based financial institution would then be paid off. Suhas is also actively exploring the possibility of floating an IPO on the Nasdaq. Simultaneously, there were also other reports that Suhas was considering a possible takeover of a Chinese firm to make an entry in the Chinese IT sector. This could be a merger or an acquisition. This would give Globals a foothold also in Singapore and Korea. 15. TOWARDS ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Suhas Gopinath is a motivator for young entrepreneurs. In course of his travelling and lecturing in India and abroad he says “For the economies of third world countries to grow, job seekers have to transcend into job creators. Whenever I address the youth, I try to encourage them to take up entrepreneurship as an adventure. There are a lot of hurdles but the satisfaction of providing opportunities is huge”. Balancing work and studies was not an easy job for Suhas. He its that life has been stressful for him. “As I got more interested in the company, my studies went for a toss. In my Class X exams I scored 80 per cent, but in I PUC could

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barely get 65 percent. Even I try and not bunk too many classes, but clients cannot be given lame excuses. When I have exams, I tell them I am unwell….” In India Globals still faces some problems when it comes to Government projects. Sometimes people in Government argue that projects can be given only to those companies, which fulfil the pre-bid qualification norms and Globals more often doesn’t qualify. Suhas is reticent on the approach of Government officials but says, “We too will be a CMM level 5 company soon.” On the general approach towards work Suhas makes a cryptic statement “ Irrespective of success or fame, we need to be down to earth and humble.” REFERENCES Times News Network, August 30, 2005, Tuesday posted at 7:16 pm Teen Tradegies: Acne, Dating, $22,000 loss, November 11, 2003. Business Standard “Suhas Gopinath may sell stake to London FI”, Tuesday, September 11, 2007. Sify Business, “20 year old Suhas wants to buy Chinese Firm”, Friday, November, 10, 2006. http://sify.com/finance/mt/ fullstory.php?id = 14328392 http://www.business -standard.com/common/ storypage_c_online.php?leftnm = 11& 6 Key Fla…..9.11.2007 “Gopinath, world’s youngest CEO has big plans”, Rediff News; Nov 10, 2006

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“I can’t afford to watch movies”, Times of India; January 11, 2007 “Dares to dream, strives to realise it”, The Hindu; January 13, 2007 “Teenager hopes his firm will become another Microsoft”, Sydney Morning Herald, Australia, November 10, 2003 “17-year-old tipped to become IT tycoon”, Independent Online, South Africa; November 15, 2003

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“Indian company loses deal because 17-year-old CEO is too young”, Daily Excelsior, India; November 3, 2007 “17-year-old CEO a problem”, Taipei Times, Taiwan; November 7, 2003 “He’s 17, single and a CEO !”, CIOL.com, USA; November 10, 2003 “Another Gates in the making! Founder at 14, CEO at 17, what next”, Indian Express, India; November 6, 2003

Published in Vilakshan, XIMB Journal of Management ; September, 2007