Business venturing at early age.

Please read the article below which appeared in the Ngee Ann Polythechnic web page.

I appreciate the boldness of Rakesh. His difference in thinking with his fellow friends of his age.

This is what I like to see among our Indian Students. Seek information and venture early.



The rise & rise of Rakesh Gupta

Not many people can say they’ve watched their business rise and fall before they were out of university. Even less would be able to say that they went on to build a bigger success afterwards. CEO Rakesh Gupta tells us how he managed that (and a whole lot more) – all before hitting the age of 30.
Graduating from Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) with a Diploma in Computer Studies in 1997, Rakesh Gupta has his eyes set on one thing – owning his own software company. Tapping the dotcom boom of the late ’90s, Rakesh and fellow NP graduate, Lim Soon Jinn, founded their first company. Working part-time while completing their undergraduate degrees at the National University of Singapore (NUS), they found some measure of success.
Within three years, however, the dream was over. The dotcom bubble burst and Rakesh found himself at a crossroads. He had to choose between a secure future as an MNC employee, or to carry on pursuing his dream.
He didn’t hesitate to choose the latter. “I wasn’t demoralised at all. In fact, we felt encouraged by the fact that we had come so far and learnt so much, in such a short time,” Rakesh recounted.
With plenty of passion, Rakesh and Soon Jinn approached the Economic Development Board (EDB) with a business plan. Under the Startup Enterprise Development Scheme (SEEDS), the duo got funding to start their company, Heulab.
“To be honest, we had absolutely no business experience,” says Rakesh. “So we were quite surprised when we got funding. And sure enough, a few years later, when we’d become closer to the folks at EDB…, they told us that it was our passion which won them over.”
With the funding from EDB and the $250,000 they’d raised themselves, their company, which specialises in learning software development, was born in 2002. Despite frequent pitfalls, the fledgling company soon developed a reputation for their speed of execution and well-developed products.
The year 2004 proved to be a watershed one for them, with the first of their major successes. They were approached to develop an application that together with tablet PCs, will replace pen-and-paper classroom learning at Crescent Girls’ School.
The project was part of an initiative by the Infocomm Development Authority and Microsoft Singapore. It proved so successful that, within a year, Microsoft had named Heulab its “Best Independent Software Vendor” and recognised it as a certified partner. Hardly one to sit on his laurels, Rakesh set out to further develop Heulab’s global presence. The company, a Small-to-Medium Enterprise (SME), now counts over 100 educational institutions among its clients in Singapore, in addition to boasting overseas offices in the US and Australia. Heulab also receives tenders for its products from countries ranging from Brunei to Japan.
With major industry players like Microsoft and Fijitsu helping it to market products to new regions, Heulab now enjoys an annual revenue of over $2 million.
The success of Heulab has not gone unnoticed. In 2007, within the short space of a week, they were selected as a launch partner of Microsoft’s Windows Vista Programme as well as mentioned in the Singapore Budget Speech 2007.
The then Second Minister of Finance, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, described Heulab as, “part of a new generation of local firms, fleet-footed, unafraid to venture out to the world early, and at the leading edge of technology.”
Rakesh Gupta was also awarded the Singapore Indian Young Entrepreneur Award last year by the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and DBS Bank. Presented by President S R Nathan, the award took Rakesh by surprise.
“I had looked at the list of nominees before the dinner and all of them, without a doubt, were larger than Heulab. So I had just gone along for a nice dinner and was quite taken aback when I was called up!” Rakesh said with a laugh.
CEO. Young entrepreneur. When asked about being a role model for the Indian community as well as for budding entrepreneurs, Rakesh grimaced. “I hate that label,” he said. “I’m always worried that I might fail and let people down.”
Yet, his never-say-die attitude serves as an inspiration to anyone who has ever dreamed of setting out on his or her own.
Rakesh also encourages young entrepreneurs to go out and seek funding for their ideas – whether it’s from their schools, government agencies and bodies, or private investors. “Explore your potential and the potential of your business idea by seeking funding yourself,” he said. “The hands-on experience you get pitching your products to investors is incalculable.”