Manoj Nayak, Owner, Vedant Enterprises

Why did you decide to become an entrepreneur and not pursue a regular job?

As a schoolboy, I often overheard my father’s conversation with his business associates and always nurtured the idea of joining his business eventually. The idea of grooming myself for a job never really occurred to me.

So, when my father finally asked me to join his business, I don’t see why I should have been surprised. I immediately took on the management of his business, relieving him of the daily rigours.

Can you tell us what kind of challenges you faced during the initial years?

I was only 27 and an owner of a business that employed 70 permanent and over 50 temporary workers. It was quite a challenge. More so because, ours was a small-scale industry with a huge workforce and I wasn’t adept in managing it. I was an engineering student and had no idea about management; besides, I did not even have the financial acumen to run a business of this size. But I learnt the skills anyways and never failed to deliver my best. I started from scratch. From learning how to read a balance sheet to handling labour situations, I did it all. Since my business is labour-intensive, I also focused on developing staff management skills, and of course, the most important of the lessons that I learnt was —never to run out of cash. Over the years, the business became very competitive. I witnessed a paradigm shift in the industry scenario. Earlier, the focus was on interpersonal relationships with the clients, but now it’s more about how competitive and efficient you can become.

What was the turning point in your career?

After closing one of my factories, I realised the need to get into diverse businesses to mitigate risks. This was important also because the turnover of my business was dependent on a single client. So I got myself involved in a few more sphere. I was a managing director in one of the Forex companies; presently a partner in an event management company that produces niche shows and run a couple of websites which generate revenues from advertisements.

Did you, at any point, feel like giving up on your venture?

Doing a job has its own constraints. I have never worked for anyone except for myself and it is quite unthinkable being a full-time employee, working for someone else.

What drives you?

The satisfaction that I am doing what I wanted to do.

Could you please elaborate on your business model?

Vedant Enterprises assembles miniature circuit breakers (MCB) for a French multinational called Legrand India Pvt Ltd and the work involves using various kinds of pneumatic and welding operations. We also have a good experience and expertise in moulding plastics, die making and manufacturing of textile bobbins. We are different from our competitors because we believe in smart working and having strong work ethics. Our company has sufficient business in hand; the challenge is to squeeze maximum profit. The idea of social entrepreneurship enthrals me and I see myself getting engaged in at least 10 businesses, all scaling up to deliver optimum value to the customers.

Can you give some tips to budding entrepreneurs?

If financial security is not an issue and if you like living on the edge, you should take a plunge and become an entrepreneur.