Khuzema Limkhedawala, BE Electronics, having worked for 10 years in gulf sets up business in alloy steel in Pune. His motivating and inspiring journey demonstrates sound preparatory skills sets, systematic growth and expansion. It also portrays the importance of helping each other.
He graduated with Bachelors of Engineering in Electronics from Bharti Vidyapeeth College of Engineering, Pune, India in 1992. He took up a job at Datapro, Pune, as marketing executive for software sales for 6 months. Initially he wasn’t too keen to move to Kuwait but due to desire of parents he relented and agreed.
In 1993 he moved to Kuwait and joined the Marafi group as a service engineer in the laboratory and scientific Instruments division. In 1997 he joined Tectron (Technical Electronic Instrumentation Co) in the sales & marketing team, which also was dealing in the laboratory and scientific Instruments. In 2001 he moved to Saudi Arabia and joined Image Systems, as head of Sales & Marketing. His role also involved marketing and sales of stimulation & training software and systems for oil equipment’s, laboratory and soft skills. For obtaining the product expertise, he was deputed on various foreign trips to Germany, France & Denmark for sales and service training.
He had to leave Saudi in 2003 due to family reasons and move to Pune, India. He spent about 6 months doing marketing research to decide what business line to pursue. He got together with his brother-in law and started business in alloy steel trading, which is used in tooling for manufacturing of automobiles and machine parts. He had the required capital to fund the business. He took the role of sales & marketing, purchase. Having been in the same role for last 7 years, the transition into this business line was a relatively easy. The work involved cut to order, grinding and finishing of allow steel sheets or bars. He would also take care of purchase, product specification and gather the technical specification of customers. Thus his technical background helped him shorten the learning curve and master the skills of the trade. In 2008, he was joined by his another brother-in law, Shabbir Wala who also moved from Kuwait to India.
His entrepreneurial spirit was building up and in 2005, Khuzema started another venture, grinding of steel plates to high accuracy. For this he roped in another BE from Kuwait, Ali Mal and provided the required support to jump start.
Around 2011 after achieving success in various ventures, his urge was building to get into an area where he could utilize his engineering background. Ultimately, in 2013 he started another venture of Solar Energy systems and started Shams Power Pvt. Ltd.
Shams Power Pvt. Ltd. deals in design and installation of PV systems. They install solar rooftop power plants, solar water pumps and other solar energy systems for industrial, agricultural and commercial enterprises. Their products and services include supply, installation, testing and commissioning of various solar PV systems.
Here Khuzema takes care of marketing and design of these of core electrical jobs. He had to face many challenges as these are expensive projects and there is very strict certification process. Earlier though Solar power was more of Government sector project but now consumer sector is opening up. Getting funding was also a key challenge. He abstained from any loans, CC or OD as per Aqa Moula’s (tus) farman. He continuously had to manage funds through either sleeping partners or active partners.
In the mid of 2015, he sold his stake in Alloy steel business and is now fully focusing on Solar power business unit. Currently the operation is based in Pune and he caters to Maharashtra region. In future he would like to expand his operations to other states in India.
After 12 years in India, he is satisfied and contented that his efforts have paid off. His entrepreneurial and business journey has taught him many hard lessons. He is also glad that he was instrumental to aid relocation of 2 persons from Kuwait and settle in Pune. Finally, he is happy that his new venture is a stepping stone into the field of his core qualifications.
Khuzema quotes :
“People who are qualified, need to obtain experience in India first, before moving to any foreign jobs. This experience really helps you to steer your career to higher level.”
If planning to Move to India, he quotes :
“Anyone qualified and desiring to move to India to do business must plan and research at least a year or two in advance about the business line, potential market, funds requirement for business, sources of funds, and earning potential of the business rather than; move first to India and plan later about the business“.
