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At 18, top of the world
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He's a teen. And CEO of an IT company. Nevertheless, Suhas Gopinath is a self-confessed mamma's boy, writes BHUMIKA K.
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Suhas Gopinath's role model is Bill Gates, though the Microsoft honcho hasn't bothered to reply his e-mails. — Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.
HE SPORTS a navy blue blazer, talks shop with Australian IT firms, enthusing young IT professionals in India to think big like him, even as he smiles at friends and relatives who'd dropped by to visit him at Bangalore IT.com 2004. This teenaged Bangalore boy, CEO of Globals Inc., is the world's youngest CEO. Just 18, Suhas Gopinath is well on his way to mint millions. And, oh yes, he's also trying to earn his engineering degree at M.S. Ramaiah College.
The soft-spoken Suhas with his shy gaze is hardly what you expect to see in a CEO in an aggressive, IT-driven age. With over 600 `company members', as he likes to call them, spread over 11 countries and 250 clients, one wouldn't dispute his swift success.
U.S. patent
Consider this — his company has now developed a data management tool that can help IT companies cut down their workforce and costs. "We are talking with Infosys and B2K, former IT secretary Vivek Kulkarni's company, to take up our tool. The software is in the process of a U.S. patent, and it will be the first patent I will have registered in my name as a major," says Suhas, who turned 18 last week.
He has had problems, being underage. India's legal wrangles against minors setting up private enterprises was what drove him to the U.S., the land of free enterprise where concessions are made for young entrepreneurs to set up shop. Suhas recalls how, at a conclave for CEOs at the Indian Institute of Science, he was stopped at the hallowed portals.
"I was at the lab in college and dressed casually for class. I got a call inviting me for this education seminar. But when I went to IISc, the security guard told me, `This seminar is for CEOs, not for college students. I can't let you in.' I had to call the organisers to come and rescue me."
Not easy
Even in the U.S., he's had to party with seniors and competitors and tell them he can't drink because he was underage. "People are also suspicious that I'm a bluffer when I say I'm the CEO of a company," he says exasperatedly.
"I've missed out completely on my teenage life," he admits, but firmly believes he's not a child prodigy who'll typically burn out and fade out. He describes how friends often tease him when he refuses to go out for a movie or lunch with them, saying he'll definitely retire when he's 24!
But there's something about age and Suhas. The oldest employee of his company is 26. "I want our company to become a platform for youngsters with IT and entrepreneurial skills," he says. Young students in India, especially rural India (who the company has equipped with PCs), school dropouts in the U.S. — all between the ages of 17 and 26 years — are employees who contribute to his e-commerce and web development projects.
The Bangalore wing of operations started six months ago and the team has been commissioned by the National Cricket Academy to design the Indian team's official website and individual sites for each cricketer.
Suhas started designing web pages when he was 14 at his neighbourhood cyber café. There was no computer at home, and when it eventually came, it came sans an internet connection. "My mother always thought I went to play games at the cyber café." When he realised he would never gather the $70 needed to set up his own website, he approached Network Solutions, a Fortune 500 company, for help. The company allowed him to register his domain free of cost. So when he was in his 10th standard, Suhas launched his interactive site coolhindustan.com. Impressed, the company offered him a job as its webmaster over weekends and offered to sponsor his education in the U.S. But friends suggested: "Why work for an American company? Why not start one of our own and offer your services to them?" And that's how Globals Inc. happened.
CEO and in command he may be, but Suhas is a complete mamma's boy. "My mother is a very orthodox person. Whatever happens, she wants me to complete my engineering course scoring high marks. I tried telling her Bill Gates is not a graduate. She says not everyone can be a Bill Gates. But I hope at least my company can be a Microsoft."
Bigger dream
So with dreams of building an empire, Suhas attends class at M.S. Ramaiah college. He's in the second year of Infoscience Engineering and shuttles between the U.S. and Bangalore — — a month here a month there — to run his company and study. "I always wanted to be a veterinarian. But my mom thought it was not a secure job and no girl would marry me! Today, in my spare time, I volunteer at CUPA."
Bill Gates is his role model. But he's never replied to Suhas's numerous mails. Suhas, however, is ever hopeful that one day he'll meet him.
Suhas has often said in the media that he wanted to move his company to India once he became a major. But, as with others who perhaps have tasted sweet success on shores abroad, coming back is not easy. As he explains: "Nearly 75 per cent of our clients are in America. It will be difficult working out of India. But if the State Government helps with infrastructure and land, maybe we can move in the next six months... "
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