Clicking his way to success

Yogesh Gole

He hails from Dhar Dighol village in Parbhani district where even today no bus reaches. All students of classes first to fourth sit in one room, many dropping out after the fourth. One would imagine that the ultimate dream of a farmer’s son from here would be to obtain higher education and get a good job. Sachin Kate, however, never liked to walk the trodden path. His father encouraged him to continue education, so he moved to tehsil place Sonpeth, worked hard and went on to be one of the pioneering Information Technology (IT) entrepreneurs from Marathwada. Here is one amazing story of struggle and success.

Sachin Kate

CEO, Infogird Informatics Pvt Ltd

A: How did your entrepreneurial journey begin?

Q: When I came to Sonpeth for education in 2000, I decided to earn my pocket money on my own. In those days, 300 copies of Lokmat came to the town. I worked with the Lokmat newspaper agent there and distributed 140 copies a day earning Rs 300 a month. This aided me in completing my education till 10th. A spark of entrepreneurship was lit. I later moved to Aurangabad. While pursuing graduation in science, I worked part-time in Classic Travels. As a curious student, I kept thinking on how to use technology and add value in the agency’s functioning which led to development of software which recorded the details like number of cars operating, the fuel average, how it varies after the driver is changed, and when the tyre was changed. This brought great coordination in the work. I went on to obtain B Sc (IT) and MBA (International Marketing) degrees while doing this.

Q: How did your foray into IT-enabled services happen?

A: From 2009 to 2011, I developed 350 websites of prominent local hotels, industries and establishments. Then I turned focus to car rental service as I had worked in this field for five years. Through Clear Car Rental Pvt Ltd, we developed a unique platform on which one can book cars in 400 cities in India. Even Make My Trip, Thomas Cook, Cox and Kings sourced vehicles from our inventory. We had 1600 car providers onboard. In 2017, car aggregators Ola and Uber came, giving rise to many single vehicle owners, who do not need sophisticated software. It was for the people having a fleet of 10-15 cars. So, our sales went down. Covid-19 pandemic also had an impact as travelling came to a halt. As things return to normalcy, this business is growing again, witnessing a rise in the number of bookings.

Q: How was Infogird Informatics Pvt Ltd born?

A: Infogird is our Human Resource Information Management System. We used expertise in handling human resources at car rental service into our new HR management software and gave it to a prominent industrial house in Aurangabad on a trial basis for three months. Initially, they were not impressed but after three more months, they embraced it. Generally, it takes time to collect attendance data from different plants as punching details of the staff first go to the third party whose machines are used and then registered on the software. However, we provided data like staff present and man-hours from multiple plants in minimum time. Our HR product is today being used in 103 companies all over India, including the majority of steel mills in Jalna. Companies find useful data analysis like how many people come late, habitual latecomers, seniors who do not clear leave applications in time and cost per person per hour.

Q: Did you ever think of quitting entrepreneurship?

A: I began work in my flat with a borrowed capital of Rs 25,000, myself doing all jobs. It was a no-frills set-up. There were times like note ban, when car rental business was affected, introduction of GST or lockdown when I felt that I would have been better doing a cushy job. I moved on though and it gives a great feeling when I see a staff of 45 bright youngsters working in our group. My friends in the US often speak about their dream of setting up a company in India when they turn 45-50. I think that I already have one and will retire at 50.