Suhas Gopinath 13 Year Old CEO

8/8/2019 Suhas Gopinath 13 Year Old CEO

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Suhas Gopinath – 13 year old - youngest CEO in the world.

When 14-year-old Suhas Gopinath started Global Inc ten years ago from a

cyber cafe in Bengaluru, he didn't know that he had become the youngestCEOin the world.

Today, Global is a multi-million dollar company with offices in the UnitedStates, India, Canada, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, Australia,Singapore and the Middle East and has 100 employees in India and 56 abroad.

Among the several honors that have been bestowed upon this young man, themost prestigious is the invitation to be a member of the Board of the ICT

Advisory Council of the World Bank..

In 2007, the European Parliament and InternationalAssociation for Human Values conferred 'Young Achiever Award' on him.

He was also invited to address the European Parliament andother business dignitaries assembled in the EU Parliament.

He is also recognized as one of the 'Young GlobalLeaders' for 2008-2009 by the prestigious World EconomicForum.

Suhas is the youngest member ever in the World Economic Forum's history. Theother members include the Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, Hollywood star Leonardo Di Caprio, musician A R Rahman, Prince of Brunei, etc.

In this interview from his office in Bengaluru, Suhas Gopinath talks abouthis decade long journey and his dreams for the future.

· > On his childhood:

I come from a middle class family. My father worked as a scientist for theIndian Army. I used to study in the Air Force school in Bengaluru.

As a child, I was more interested in animals and veterinary science. Butwhen I saw my friends who had home computers talk about it, I had this urgeto learn and talk in their wave length.

But we didn't have a computer at home. In those days, computers were very

expensive and we couldn't afford one.

So, what I did was, I located an Internet cafe near my house. With my modest



monthly pocket money of Rs. 15, I couldn't afford to surf the net every day.

I noticed that the shop was closed in the afternoon from 1 PM to 4 PM. So, Ioffered to open the shop for him after my school hours and take care of thecustomers.

In the bargain, he let me browse the net for free. That was the first business deal of my life and it turned out to be a successful one.

· > On building websites using open source technology:

Once I got the chance to manage the shop and browse the net, I started building websites. It became my passion in no time.

I got hooked to open source technology after I started looking for e-books

on how to build websites. They were not available as they were created in propriety sources.

So, I started using open source to build websites.

On getting the first contract to build a website

There is a freelance marketplace on the web where I could register and offer my services to build websites. I registered myself there as a website

builder.

The first website I had to do was free of cost as I had no references. Itwas for a company in New York.

My first income was $100 when I was 13 for building another website but Ididn't have a bank account. so, I told my father that I built a website andgot paid for it.

I was not excited to get the money because money was not a factor that drewme to it. It was the passion for technology that attracted me. I used to

build websites free of cost also. I was only a 9th standard student.

After that, I built my own portal and called it Coolhindustan.com. It wasfocused on NRIs. It was a portal where I wanted to showcase my skills.

After that, many companies approached me to be their web designer.

Suhas Gopinath speaking to students' at a conference in Austria

· > On buying his first computer



When I was in the 9th standard itself, I had made enough money to buy acomputer for myself. At that time, my brother was studying engineering andmy father thought he needed a computer.

In no time, I also bought one for myself. But we didn't have a net

connection at home.

My spending hours in the net cafe working on websites did affect my studies.I spent the entire summer vacation after the 9th standard in the cafe.

> On rejecting a job offer from the US

When I was 14, Network Solutions offered me a part-time job in the US andthey said they would sponsor my education in the US. I rejected the offer

because that was the time I had read a story about Bill Gates and how hestarted Microsoft.

I thought it was more fun to have your own company. Many US companies usedto tell me that I didn't even have a moustache and they felt insecure takingmy services. They used to connect my ability with my age and academicqualifications.

So, I wanted to start my own company and show the world that age andacademic qualifications are immaterial. I decided then that when I started acompany, I would recruit only youngsters and I would not ask for their academic qualifications and marks cards. I follow that in my company.

Gopinath delivering a lecture at the DLD Conference

· > On starting his own company at 14

Soon after my 9th standard summer vacation, I started my own company, GlobalInc. I wanted the name Global or Global Solutions but both were not

available, so I named it Global.

I registered my company in the US as in India; you will not be able to starta company unless you are 18. It takes only 15 minutes to start a company inthe US.

I became the owner and CEO of the company. My friend, an American who was auniversity student, became a board member.

I was very excited because that was what I wanted to do. From that day, Istarted dreaming of making my company as big as Microsoft.

· > On doing badly in school



In my pre-board CBSE exam, I failed in Mathematics. The school headmistresswas shocked because that was the first time I had failed in any subject. Shecalled my mother and said she was horrified by my performance.

At home, like any typical South Indian mother, my mother made me swear onher head that I would focus on academics.

I told my mother that the world's richest man Bill Gates had not completedhis education. Why do you force me then, I asked her. She then said, I amsure his horoscope and yours are not the same!

I come from a family where entrepreneurship is considered a sin. My mother was quite upset. She wanted me to do engineering, then an MBA and work in agood company.

As per my mother's wishes, I took a four-month sabbatical from my companyand studied for my board exam. I passed with a first class.

I still feel that you cannot restrict yourself to bookish knowledge. I believe that practical knowledge is more important.

In the first year, the turnover of Global Inc was Rs 1 lakh (Rs 100,000).The second year, the turnover went up to Rs 5 lakh (Rs 500,000).

Suhas receiving the Incredible Europe Innovation Award at Vienna

· > On looking at Europe as a market

Till I was 16 or 17, I didn't tell my parents that I had started a company.I kept it a secret because I thought they would object to it. They only knewthat I was a freelancer.

We used to build websites and also offer online shopping and e commerce

solutions. We even gave part time work to a few programmers in the US whenwe got many projects but we never had any office.

When I was 16, I saw that there was enormous business opportunities inEurope as a majority of the Indian IT companies were working for Americancompanies.

When I contacted a Spanish company, it rejected my offer saying Indians donot know Spanish. As an entrepreneur, you can't accept rejection, especiallywhen you are young.

I hired five student interns from some Spanish universities and told themthey would be paid based on their successful sales.



They were the people who met the companies and bagged the projects for us.By now, we decided to have a home office in Spain.

I replicated the same model in Italy. I contacted some Italian universitystudents.

Suhas meeting with Sheikha Nayhan, Minister for Higher Education, the UAE

· > On going to Germany to talk about entrepreneurship

The American newspapers were writing a lot about me as the world's youngestCEO at 14 from India, from a middle class background.

It was a good story for the BBC also. I never expected to be in thelimelight. For me, starting a company was like realising a passion of mine.

On seeing these stories, a B-school in Germany invited me to talk to itsstudents on entrepreneurship. I was 17 then. By now, I had completed my 12thstandard and had joined Engineering in Bengaluru.

When I was 18, we set up an office -- the European HQ in Bonn. Then, wemoved to Switzerland. Six months back, we started our operations in Viennaas well.

That is how we spread our operations from a small Internet cafe to become amultinational company with significant operations in Europe, Middle East,the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, etc.

· > On registering a company in India at 18

The day I turned 18, I registered our company in India as Global, opened anoffice and recruited four people. I opened the office next to the Internetcafe where I started my career.

By then, he had closed shop and joined a factory as an employee. Whenever Imet him, I used to tell him, 'you made me an entrepreneur but you stopped

being one.'

· > On moving to creating products

We wanted our company also to be a product development company and our focuswas on education, like the software that manages everything about a childwhile in school starting from admission till he/she leaves school and

becomes an alumnus.

It is a nasty software which students are going to be quite unhappy about!This software was aimed only at the Indian market. I want to be the market



leader in ICT in education.

Our software is being used in more than 100 schools all over India,Singapore and the Middle East.

We are now in the process of raising funds. Once we do it, we will separate

the company into two -- service and product development. I want toconcentrate on products as I can't sail on two boats.

World Bank president Robert Zoellick

· > On meeting former President Abdul Kalam

I met Dr Abdul Kalam when he was the President of India. I was 17 or 18then. My meeting was scheduled for 15 minutes but we had such an intense

conversation that it went on for one-and-a-half hours.

Suhas Gopinath with former President APJ Abdul Kalam

I didn't feel that I was talking to the President of India. We talked liketwo friends. He was sitting in his chair across the table but after sometime, he came and sat next to me. He is such a modest person that it was alearning experience for me.

· > On being on the board of the World Bank

As per the wishes of my parents, I joined engineering but didn't complete myengineering: like Bill Gates! When I was in my 5th semester, the World Bank invited me to attend their board meeting. I am the only Indian on the boardof the World Bank.

The objective was to explore how ICT can improve the quality of education inthe emerging economies, by bringing in accountability and transparency intheir financial deeds.

Robert B. Zoë lick, the president of the World Bank, decided that they could

not have only Americans on the board and needed people from across theworld. As they were focusing on education, they wanted young minds to addvalue to the work.



He preferred a young mind from an emerging country and that was how I gotthe invitation in 2005. Not even in my wildest dreams did I imagine that Iwould be on the board of the World Bank. The invitation was the mostunforgettable moment in my life. I report directly to Robert B Zoë lick!

Some of the others on the board are the CEO of Cisco, the vice president of Microsoft and the CEO of SAP; all Fortune 500 companies and me, the onlyIndian!

I am helping the World Bank set policies on ICT in university education sothat employability can be enhanced. My aim is to reduce the number of unemployed eligible youth in the world.

Right now, we are concentrating on Africa. Soon, I want to shift the focuson to India. It has been an amazing experience for me.

But I had to discontinue my engineering education at the time I joined the board, as I didn't have enough attendance in college!

Suhas Gopinath > On his dreams for his company

I have always believed that IT is not just technology but a tool that cansolve the problems of people.

That is what I want to do in my company.

I want my company to be a market leader in software solutions concentratingon education.

When I was younger, I didn't care about money. Now that I am responsible for my employees, I care about what we make. If I am not bothered about money,we cannot scale up our business.

When I started my company from a net cafe in Bengaluru, I never ever imagined that one day my company would be a multi-million dollar company andI would be on the World Bank board as a member.

What drives me is my passion and it has been an amazing journey so far.=This most inspiring feature is - brought to you by:

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Suhas Gopinath 13 Year Old CEO

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