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The Story of Youngest CEO in the World
___________________________________________________
S. Deenadayalan,CEO & Architect-Organizational Capability,Centre for Excellence in Organization Pvt.Ltd,#14/2, Basement,Rajesh Chambers,Brunton Road, Bangalore-560025.Mobile:[email protected]
D.AvinandanBusiness AnalystCEO & Architect-Organizational Capability,
Centre for Excellence in Organization Pvt.Ltd,#14/2, Basement,Rajesh Chambers,Brunton Road, [email protected]
Dr.K.Prabhakar,Professor,School of Management,SRM University,SRM Nagar, Kattankulathur
[email protected] _____________________________________________________________________
Abstract
Suhas Gopinath conceived his enterprise at the age of thirteen years and the youngest entrepreneur in the world. He started a software company Globalsregistered in California’s Silicon Valley and at present spread over eleven countries.
His entrepreneurial journey began in his early teens when he was fascinated withthe internet. His initial dilemma was becoming a veterinarian due to love of his dogor to plunge into the world of software. His father could not afford him a computer inthe year 2000 while Suhas loved the internet. He noticed that the owner of the cybercafé had to shut his shop during the afternoon time from 1 pm to 4 pm, he volunteeredto the owner that he would open the shop during this time and thus use internet freeof cost and the owner agreed to it; it was the trigger for entrepreneurial spirit.Suhas comes from a non business family and academic excellence was family
priority. Due to his passion he failed in ninth standard. He took a temporary breakand he passed his 10 th standard examinations. And despite being a busy traveler andattending conferences in top companies in Europe and delivering lectures in Ivy
League universities like Harvard, he kept his love towards programming alive. He
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never uses job specifications or job evaluation nor marketing; most of hisorganizational practices are counter intuitive. However, all his employees are totallyengaged. He considers himself as a social entrepreneur. Apart from being the world’s
youngest entrepreneur there are attributes that distinguish him and his philosophy
from other CEOs or organizations. His love towards animals and the value of Ahimsa, ethics instilled by parents, passion towards less privileged and having noaccess towards education, promoting dignity and modesty as a value beingconsidered by the organization, are some of the most important dimensions that arestudied in the present case study. It may be concluded that the future businessorganizations to be sustainable, have lessons to learn from Suhas Gopinath.
Introduction
"The past is a thief, if we allow it, it will steal our future and the present".
“I don’t think that I am mature enough to advise others, but if you have it inyou, go for it. One should also make time to enjoy other things in life. With work,you get too busy to even repent”.“Be adventurous in life and be willing to take risks. Take every opportunity tomeet new people, operate in new circumstances and get out of your comfort zone.Though I have made many sacrifices to reach this point, the joy of providingemployment to hundreds of talented youth has made it a worthwhile journey forme so far.”
Favorite Quotations of Suhas Gopinath.One of the researchers with his colleague met Suhas Gopinath. His narration
of life experiences is examined with the actual personal practices, organizational
values and discernment is achieved to have better insights.
At the age of twenty four now, Suhas Gopinath, hailing from middle class family in
Banglore, is recognized as the youngest CEO in the world as he started his enterprise
at the age of fourteen and conceived his idea at the age of thirteen. His father is a
defense scientist. He wanted to be his own boss. His personal philosophy is “if your
work is beneficial to the organization you work for, and then why not do it for your
own organization?” He wanted to create a social enterprise that is profitable and gives
back to society. His objective is to create a platform to the young dropouts and
unemployed youth to develop their talents by performing-innovate-discover
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paradigm, and provide them opportunities in the technology sector. Successful
education is considered as the only and most important passport to prosperity and
entrepreneurial spirit is not encouraged by his parents at early stages fearing that it is
likely to get him diverted from education. However, they were great supporters of his
dreams and he considers support of parents is a necessary factor for success of young
entrepreneurs. He considered that ethics instilled by his parents in early childhood
helped him personally and for the success of his organization. In one of the interviews
he operationalized his upbringing and its impact on himself and the organization as;
1. Frugal living and distaste towards extravagant lifestyle : Despite of all the
success and the media attention, there has not been any significant change in his
lifestyle. He learned to live frugally. In fact, when, his company had US$5, 00,000
revenue, he was still taking pocket money from my father and living with it. He said
“Success can go to your head — hence it’s important to stay humble and grounded.”
Frugal living is one of the most important trait of Indian way of life.
2. He believes that his parents have instilled a good set of values. The values and
ethics are responsible for his personal success and organization. The set of values
created for his organization reflect his commitment.
Following is the set of values of global:
“We encourage our people to be entrepreneurial and we are committed to provide
them a platform to perform, innovate and discover. Our people have gone the extra
mile to take up every challenge and risk. At Globals, we strongly believe in team
work and thus we understand No one is as smart as all of us!”
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Commitment
We believe in commitment as doing whatever it takes to deliver our promise to every
stake holder of Globals. Our people are responsible, punctual and accountable making
us a result oriented organization.
Integrity
Global is committed to conduct its business in ethical and legal principles. We have
always encouraged honest and open debate at every step of our business.
Swiftness
At Globals, for us swiftness and speed means to be responsive to every customer with
a sense of importance. We have always respected time and hence, our minds are set to
work in a wavelength to deliver results to our customers within the prescribed time
boundary.
Modesty
We at Globals understand we have miles to go before even looking back.
Hence we do not rest on our prior laurels. Laurels come and go, progress is the only
thing on our minds, and will be the same for the time to come. For us modesty means
discretion, impulsiveness and frankness in relations. We can discern the impact of
parents on the values of commitment, integrity and modesty instilled on the psyche of
Suhas. The value of swiftness is from his role model Bill Gates who strongly believed
the business aphorism of speed of thought. Modesty is not a common value of the
organizations which is unique to global. The dictionary definition of modesty is
the quality of being modest; freedom from vanity, boastfulness;
regard for decency of behaviour, speech, dress, etc.; Simplicity or moderation. The
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organization added three more dimensions discretion, impulsiveness or working on
intuition and frankness in relations with all stakeholders.
3. Treating employees as family members are one of the most important values of the
organization. The organization has flexible working conditions to promote a healthy
balance between work and personal life is one of the key outcomes of this orientation.
His role Model
Bill Gates was one of his inspirations in setting up Globals Inc. He said in an
interview “I met Bill Gates when he visited Bangalore “I need to be afraid of you as
you have aspirations to be like me.” “I was amazed to find Gates to be humble,
modest and very approachable as a person. I always look up to him as a role model
and how he has made Microsoft an unforgettable success story.”
His Social Awareness, Responsibility and Value of non violence
When he was in 10th standard and just creating his organization, he and his
friends did community work .Many a times he helped the community to clean the
garbage to bring about awareness in the neighborhood about hygiene. He wanted to
become a veterinary doctor as he loved his pet dog. However, after starting of his
business he dropped that career option. However, to continue his love of animals he
joined People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
Future Personal Plans
He indicates that as a young CEO he would not like to be a roadblock to other
youngsters working in the organization. He plans to take a holiday in the future and
come back as chairman of Globals Inc, in the process creating opportunities for others
to hold the CEO position. This trait of being detached at the same time being attached
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is one of the traits that are likely to help organizations grow due to the influx of new
ideas and leadership.
The beginning
Suhas Gopinath was born on November 4, 1986. Suhas explained that his
entrepreneurial urge started in his early teens when he was fascinated with the
internet.
Net Enthusiast
Being a naturally inquisitive personality, he dabbled with various websites,
email internet applications. His other passion was animals, largely inspired by the pet
dog at home and he was initially torn between becoming a veterinarian or to plunge
into the mysterious world of software. Eventually he decided upon the latter. All these
dilemmas below the age of thirteen – and parents come from the air force background.
His father could not afford him a computer in the year 2000 while Suhas was net
addict. The paltry pocket money of rupees fifteen a day in the beginning of this
century could not give him net access for more than ten minutes. Suhas had to endure
plenty of challenges while moving on this path.
Obstacles are Opportunities – Learn and Earn
However as Shakespeare says “sweet are the uses of adversity”, Suhas
capitalized on the very obstacle to convert it into an asset. He noticed that the owner
of the cyber café had to shut his shop during the afternoon time from 1 pm to 4 pm, he
volunteered to the owner that he would open the shop during this time and thus use
internet free of cost.
He requested the cyber café owner that he would run the store in the lunch
hour in exchange for being able to use the internet. The owner readily agreed to this
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win-win proposition and therein begins a phenomenal success story. Suhas studied in
a military school which operated on shift system and the luxury of the noon helped his
cause. This learning earner acquired enough pocket money to procure his first
personal computer.
Cyber Child
Surprisingly Suhas comes from a totally non business family and his father
was in the Air force. Naturally academic excellence was family priority. Like most
parents and teachers he was also the victim of academic censure and his failure in
mathematics in the 9th standard compounded it. Parents wanted him to do engineering
and an MBA so that he can settle in a good job. Disturbed by his performance in
examinations, his mother made him promise on her head ( a typical Hindu practice of
taking oaths) that he will pass his examination, despite himself telling her that his role
model Bill Gates have not completed his education. His mother’s reply was his
horoscope is different from that of Suhas. His passion had to take a temporary break
for a month from Globals and he passed out with first class in his 10 th standard
examinations. He never believed in academic excellence would automatically lead to
success in life. It is passion towards what you make a person is his strong belief do.
Initial Stages
At the shop he was building websites. He used open source technology as
proprietary technology is not affordable to him. Building websites became his
passion. He registered himself as a website builder. The first website build by him
was for free of cost and the organization is from New York. His first income was $
100 when he was thirteen years for building a website for the first time. However,
money did not excite him. It was a passion for technology that propelled him to work.
He builds his own portal and called it Coolhindustan.com. It was built to showcase his
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skills. US-based Network solutions Inc certified him as one the world’s youngest web
page developers impressed with his skills. It was focused on non resident Indians.
However, it was hacked and by Pakistan hackers and renamed as Coolpakistan.com.
He never had any ill feeling towards anyone about it. After establishing his
organization, he opened a branch in Pakistan; Indian government objected to it;
however, he convinced them that his organization is based in the United States of
America. This value of “forgiving” people and doing well to everyone irrespective of
nationality is one of the most important traits of Suhas.
Rejecting a job offer and preferred to be a job creator
When he was 14, Network Solutions offered me a part-time job in the US and
they said they would sponsor his education in the US. He rejected the offer because
that was the time I had read a story about Bill Gates and how he started Microsoft. His
counter offer to Network Solutions was a request to Outsource Website Building work
for him. He preferred to be his own boss and providing employment to a large number
of youngsters made him more fulfilled than mere job in US. He thought it was more
fun to own an organization. Many US companies are apprehensive due to his age and
they used to connect his ability with his age and academic qualifications. That
triggered him to start a company to signal to the world that age and academic
qualifications are immaterial. He spends his 9 th standard summer vacation in the cyber
café and started Globals Inc. He wanted the name Global or Global Solutions but both
were not available, so he named it as Globals. He registered my company in the US as
in India, as he will not be able to start a company unless a person attains age of
eighteen. It took fifteen minutes for him to start his organization in the US. He
became CEO of the company and his friend an American who was a university
student, became a board member. . From that day, he started dreaming of making his
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company as big as Microsoft. Until he was 17, he didn't tell his parents about his
company. He kept it as secret because he thought they would object to it. They only
knew that he was a freelancer.
Europe- Path that is least travelled
He saw that there is a great business opportunities in Europe as a majority of
the Indian IT companies were working for American companies. He contacted a
Spanish company; it rejected his offer saying Indians do not know Spanish. He did
not accept rejection. He hired five student interns from some Spanish universities andtold them they would be paid based on their successful sales. They were the people
who met the companies and obtained projects. He decided to have an office in Spain.
The same model is replicated in Italy with the help of Italian students. Based on press
publicity, a B-school in Germany invited him to talk to its students on
entrepreneurship. He was seventeen and he completed his 12th standard and had
joined Engineering in Bangalore. When he was 18, he set up an office -- the European
HQ in Bonn. Then, he moved to Switzerland and Vienna. Operations from a small
Internet cafe became a multinational company with significant operations in Europe,
Middle East, the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, etc. At the age of eighteen he
registered his company in India besides the internet café where he started his
operations.
Member of board of the World Bank
He joined engineering and when he was in his 5th semester, the World Bank
invited him to attend their board meeting and he is the only Indian in the board. The
objective was to explore how ICT can improve the quality of education in the
emerging economies, by bringing in accountability and transparency in their financial
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deeds. Robert B. Zoellick, the president of the World Bank, decided that they could
not have only Americans on the board and needed people from across the world. As
they were focusing on education, they wanted young minds to add value to the work.
He preferred a young mind from an emerging country and that was how he got the
invitation in 2005. The other members are from Fortune 500 companies and this make
Suhas to rejoice the experience of being an Indian and called for the august body.
His approach towards recruitment and promotion is counter intuitive. He never
looks at marks or abilities. He focuses on passion. It is performance-innovation-
discover paradigm that works in his organization. HR Managers – who are victims of
typical frames that are not tuned to people orientation has a few lessons to learn. He
did not look at Job Evaluation and Job specifications. His experiences shaped his
firm’s HR policies and many a gray hair sitting on their past wisdom will disregard
this approach as immaturity. Suhas does not look into the age or qualifications of a
potential employee and merely their passion and talent to value add to the dreams of
his company. His youngest employee at present is twelve years old. However, he is
not offered a permanent posting as the legal requirements does not allow for such an
experiment. The employee studies and works as hobby. Suhas believes that HR has a
vital role to play in breaking down hierarchic structures in an organization which is
the hindrance to growth. He visualizes India to be a superpower in the next 20 years
and feels that youth are the key to achieving this dream if they become more proactive
and are encouraged by the society. He learnt HR policies at the age of 15 and he
wants to keep an open and a family like culture in his company where employees take
ownership of the company and work. In spite of being an Information Technology
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company the organization has very low attrition rate. In order to encourage his people
to freely express his ideas and opinions freely, he has started a blog in his
organization where employees interact openly. Suhas believes that his company owes
all his success to his employees and in all anniversary celebrations he invites his past
employees. When he finds any of his team members faltering on a software solution,
he sits with them and emphasizes on following the right logic and steps. It is not IT
instinct alone – it is love towards humanity, animals and nature that make what Suhas
Gopinath is today.
Marketing is unwise investment
Suhas believes that he likes to keep stretched goals and expects his employees
as well to work in the same way .He gets very impatient on completing tasks in very
less time and complete assignments with customers on time. He does not believe in
investing money on marketing. Every satisfied customer is his Ambassador. One
unsatisfied customer will wean away 100 existing customers. Hence his aggressive
focus is internal and external customer satisfaction than marketing. He therefore gets
very impatient if employees falter on time lines and time management. Modest Suhas
says he can’t advice others but still he thinks that organizations should not follow a
bureaucratic approach. He feels boss should be available just like a family member to
his team members independent of hierarchy. He is available even in his personal time
at his house without appointments. He thinks that employees should be encouraged to
have the entrepreneur spirit so that they are concerned about the organization’s
success and work aggressively towards rather than being only bothered about their
salaries. One of the most important aspect of Suhas is to be meshed with Global
Dignity.
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“Global Dignity is to implement the universal right of every human being to
lead a dignified life”. We all have the ability to increase the dignity of others and thus
we increase our own dignity. Global Dignity is an autonomous non-profit, non-critical
and non-partisan project. We wish to be inspiration-based; commending and
encouraging best practice and dignity centred leadership rather than criticizing
shortcomings. Thus Globals are a partner for Global Dignity project and is supporting
its initiatives in Asia. Being a partner of Global Dignity extraordinary importance of
social sensitivity is felt by the researchers in the organization. Every human being is
treated with total respect irrespective of their social standing.
India a super power
His dream of India as superpower goes beyond the vistas of IT. Youth initiative and
youth power will change the face of India and appeals to the youths to participate in
elections. Complaining is easy but desiring a constructive change and working
towards making it a reality is the need of the hour. Voting and political participation is
must and compulsory for the growth country is his conviction.
His Vision for Globals Inc
Globals currently offers cost effective world class quality solutions in web, software,
mobile and multimedia and will soon graduate to a product oriented organization. He
has already launched an innovative product called educationERP.net which helps in
streamlining the processes at schools like maintaining student’s records and also
ensuring that schools do not miss their business perspective. Starting with Suhas plans
to launch a huge gamut of IT based products and looking at the exponential growth of
the organizations i.e. Spreading in 11 countries in 11years and serving more than 200
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clients in only 9 years, it is expected that in a few years we would know Globals as
one of the leading providers of product based IT services.
Accolades for the young CEO
Suhas at the age of 16 was recognized as the world’s youngest entrepreneur by
CNBC and e-business, Canada. In 17, he was recognized as the World’s Youngest
CEO by leading media across the globe including the BBC, Washington Times, and
The Age etc including the Limca Book of Records. He is a resource person for
Entrepreneurship at IIM Ahmedabad, and Advisory Board Member at IIT Bombay
Entrepreneurship Cell and in 2005 he became the youngest recipient of the Prestigious
Rajyotsava Award conferred by him on State Government of Karnataka. Along with
his professional Activities, he has also volunteered as the Brand Ambassador for Indo
Pak Leadership Program organized by School of Leadership, Pakistan. He is also thekey Ambassador for the 12th World Business Dialogue, Germany. On December 2,
2007 the European Parliament and International Association for Human Values
conferred “Young Achiever Award” to Suhas at the EU Parliament in Brussels and he
was also invited to address the European Parliament and other Business dignitaries
assembled at the EU Parliament. Suhas was also announced as one of the young
global leaders for 2008-09 by the prestigious World Economic Forum, Davos and he
became the youngest member ever in the World Economic Forum history.
Conclusion
As it may be observed, Suhas Gopinath has neither the DNA of Business
family nor the MBA to start an entrepreneurship venture. He had a strong belief in
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himself and in his thought processes to challenge the traditional belief system. He
relied on the values of Ahimsa or nonviolence; forgiving persons who have destroyed
his first dream project and helped them to start a branch in the same country; frugal
living with no change in lifestyle even after achieving greatest success in the world;
employing counter intuitive and nontraditional methods of recruitment and integrating
organizational values to that of Indian values. He ensured that there are least rates of
attrition by integrating work life balance as a core value of the organization at the
same time radically focused on the customer needs with time deadlines and need
fulfillment. The social sensitivity has not made the organization unprofitable as many
may perceive. In fact, social sensitivity and youth activism contributed to the wellness
of the organization to be successful and sustainable. Every organization is perceived
to be a long shadow of the entrepreneur. However, Suhas Gopinath does not want his
limitations to be limitations of the organization. He wants others to take care of the
organization and work in different capacities after some time. All these dimensions
are qualities of not just one person but wellness dimensions of a future organization
created by a person who has broken the barrier of age for success and fulfillment.
Teaching Notes
This case study is to bring about the central issue of “Entrepreneurship of an
Youngest Person”. However, as the case unfolds, everyone can discern it is just not
entrepreneurship, but find different dimensions that make an organization to succeed
in future. Values of environmental friendliness, dignity, paradigm of performance-
innovation-discovery. Integrity, frugal living and modesty instilled by parents being
percolated to organize. The organization sustained and continuing to grow by
innovation. The following questions to the students in the classroom will help.
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1. Suhas Gopinath has considered Bill Gates as his role model. However, the Bill
Gates methodology of creating organization is totally on a different premise
compared to that of Suhas Gopinath. Bill Gates realized the power of giving
only after making money. However, Suhas Gopinath started with that. How do
you compare both the models?
2. Having a business background will be helpful or a hindrance to innovation?
3. Global MBA is found to be irrelevant for starting enterprises. Do you agree?
4. If you are the Human resource manager in Globals how do you find passion of
a person in technology? Is it possible to develop a tool box to find passion?
5. Suhas Gopinath is in the business of ICT. However, if he has selected other
sector such as Real Estate, will he be successful? Or will be he was a
successful entrepreneur if the business environment is filled with corruption?
6. Do you agree with the statement that Marketing is waste of resources? If yes
how and if no how?
7. Is it possible to integrate work life balance for employees and meet the entire
requirement of clients and at the same time being cost effective?
8. How do you think Suhas Gopinath will continue his personal successtrajectory?
9. If you were to be Suhas what will be your plans for the organization?
10. Do you think Indian values of truth, non-violence, dignity of labor, modesty,
frugality are valid? If so find similar examples and discuss in the class.
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11. Do you think detached attachment work in business organizations? If so how?