From a Namakkal Village to 7 Countries: How Yaa Creations Hit Rs 1.5 Crore

With knowledge, experience and confidence as its only capital, 'Yaa Creations', a software company started in a small village in Tamil Nadu, today builds software for many countries. The company, which began with just one employee, earned Rs 1.5 crore in revenue last year alone. How did Yaa Creations travel from local to global?

Even today, the IT industry carries the belief that IT work is done only by big MNCs, that quality exists only in multinational companies, and that only they can make it possible. Many who work in IT take pride only in working at large companies and refuse to work at startups; that is the situation today.

But 'Yaa Creations', operating out of Rasipuram, a small village in Tamil Nadu's Namakkal district, has shattered these notions and proven that a startup in a village can also hold its own internationally, attract orders and win recognition.

Eswaran, who started this company with knowledge, experience and confidence as his only capital and just one employee, earned Rs 1.5 crore in revenue last year alone. With a small team of 26, business across seven countries, and software support to the Tamil Nadu government, Eswaran shares with us the story of how 'Yaa Creations' came to be...

The journey that began in Namakkal

Eswaran, whose native place is Pallipatti village in Namakkal district, was born into a small middle-class family. His parents ran a small grocery shop and educated him up to MCA, his elder brother up to BE, and another brother up to M.Sc, M.Ed.

"I studied in a government school, completed my B.Sc and MCA at a private college, and in 2011 joined a Chennai-based startup that built software. My salary then was just Rs 3,500," he says.

Eswaran says that behind starting out as a Junior Software Developer and today building a company that creates software lie many obstacles, hardships and difficult times. He worked at that company continuously for nine years, from 2011 to 2019, ending as Technical Lead. Having fully learnt software development, Eswaran shared that when his health deteriorated, he had to leave Chennai and return to his hometown.

"It was while talking with my brothers then that the idea of starting a company using my experience came up. But I had no money to invest. When I got a small order to develop software on the strength of my experience, I took Rs 1 lakh from my brother as investment, went to Chennai with dreams, rented a co-working space there for Rs 10,000 a month, and bought two laptops with the money I had. My brother's daughters are named Jananya and Sivanya, and both my sister-in-law and my wife are named Divya. That is why I chose 'Yaa' as the company's name and got started."

"I had hired a woman for software development work at a salary of Rs 30,000. In the first two months, with the Rs 40,000 that came from the project and the money I had in hand, I paid two months' salary and office rent, and then no more orders came. On top of that, the Corona lockdown hit and I had to return home; she too went home."

Problems and challenges that followed

Since no orders came and I could not pay her salary, I told her to keep the laptop I had given her for work. She refused, but I had no other option. She left the job as well.

As days passed and the situation turned dire, the owner of the company I had previously worked at suddenly gave me a project and asked me to complete it in six months.

Using this as an opportunity, in February 2020 I started the company in the Narasipuram area near our village and hired two people. Just as I had planned their training, the lockdown came again and I had to send them to work from home. I got no response from the two who went home. Even while doing the project, I did not earn enough and faced a severe financial crisis. I needed Rs 50,000 a month, so I closed the company in Chennai, came here, and living on monthly borrowings, ran up Rs 5 lakh in debt.

"One day my son asked me to buy him shoes. When I went to the shop, the pair I saw cost Rs 800 and I had only Rs 500. With no other choice, I had to buy a poor-quality pair for Rs 200. For the first time in my life I felt as if I had fallen. At the company too, two months' rent was pending, there were no orders, and I even thought of shutting it down," he says of what he went through.

'You started a company, ran a business, and now you can't even buy your son a pair of shoes. You've failed, haven't you,' I asked myself, and broke down, heartbroken.

As days went by like this, at one point Eswaran's parents and brothers, learning of his debt burden, took a loan and cleared his debts to help him.

"My family's support has always been limitless. Whenever I stood drooping, they never abandoned me, never let me fall. After clearing the debts and recovering, when I was thinking of vacating the office because there were no orders, one of the two who had joined my company messaged me: 'Sir, I've completed all the modules and studies you gave me, shall we start work?' Also, the owner said he did not want the two months' rent for the office. Within a few days, unexpectedly, two big projects came in to build websites for an e-commerce platform."

Seeing everything happen like magic, only one thought arose within me. 'We must run the company again. Everything that's happening is a good sign for us,' I thought, and restarted the company with confidence. I hired three people, and as the days passed, I paid salaries from the money the two projects brought in.

I got an order to develop a mobile app for a small company from Paris, quoted Rs 3 lakh for it, and started the work. Aha... a third order worth Rs 3 lakh, a chance to run the company continuously, I thought, and finished the project in three months. But the client cheated us; the money never came. I could not pay my employees' salaries either. Facing a big disappointment in business for the first time, I was mentally distressed.

"After that, with perseverance, I kept meeting people and started landing projects. As orders kept coming, the four of us worked very intensely. For every project we kept studying and sharpening our knowledge. Many times I would even put up a WhatsApp status saying, 'We're just four people in all, look at the work we've done...'"

'Yaa Creations' takes off

That is how 2021 ended; after starting the company and crossing many hurdles, in all of 2021 we could only complete projects worth Rs 3 lakh. Because we were so small, people who walked into our office would often ask, 'Is this a computer centre? Can we get a xerox?' Operating at this small scale, when we stepped into 2022, we expanded our team to 7 people. In the third year 10, in the fourth year 15, and in the fifth year 20.

We took on every project we could get in every sector: health, e-commerce, digital marketing, and every kind of work: websites, mobile apps, survey work, marketing. As the team grew, so did income. Rs 3 lakh in the first year, then Rs 7 lakh, Rs 10 lakh in the third year, then Rs 30 lakh, and it kept rising.

"Our team's biggest strength is our knowledge. Though we are a small team, we study every day and discuss it; whatever new update comes, whatever technical study is released, our team will have read it. With this knowledge and my experience, today we have built many advanced software products and mobile apps with AI technologies," he said enthusiastically.

Local to global

Located in a remote village of Namakkal district, they first did projects for small companies within Tamil Nadu. Step by step they went national, then to Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Qatar and now Germany, and today continuously provide software development services to seven countries.

Beyond that, they developed software for a survey for the Tiruppur Municipal Corporation.

"We struggled hard to win this project. We competed against a large company with 25 years of experience, showcased our knowledge, and won it. Even without much experience in the education sector, we secured this project."

The scheme was to survey Class 10 and Class 12 students in every government school. Why were marks low, or why did they fail, in a particular subject? Did they dislike the subject, or have a complaint about the teacher? What was their plan after finishing school: Engineering, Arts or Medical? Collecting and consolidating such information was the task.

After we completed it, student dropouts fell, and it became possible to know students' next plans and what changes were needed in corporation schools. We received great recognition from the government for this work.

Currently, we have delivered a project for Salem Medical College Hospital: a QR-based identity card issued to the attendant accompanying a patient. To prevent crimes in hospitals, an attendant can enter the hospital and see the patient only by showing this QR ID card. All details are captured: the attendant, the patient's details, how many times and at what hours they came and went.

From a remote village, we today operate as a successful company providing software services to the Tamil Nadu government and many countries around the world.

"The company that started with a single employee today has 26 employees, and in 2025 alone we did projects worth Rs 1.5 crore. Of this, 20 percent is my profit. In 2026 we will reach Rs 3 crore," he says firmly.

In a software industry dominated only by MNCs, we, a small company from a remote village, have made our mark with our knowledge and confidence.

"Behind this success of 'Yaa Creations' are my loving family, who place immense faith and affection in me and support me, and my intelligent team, the pillars of my company, who trust me and journey with me," he says with pride.

Our company may be small. But our goals and dreams are very big. The company runs like a family, with brotherhood. Thanks to a good, friendly atmosphere, metro-city-level salaries and leave on time, the percentage of people who join my company and leave is not even 0.20 percent.

"It doesn't matter which company we work at or where we are. Everything depends on how we grow our knowledge and our mind, and what kind of goal we are running towards," says Eswaran with confidence.