A 'Superstar' Partner

The name of
the protagonist here needs no basic introduction, as the name of this
Coimbatore based channel partner justifies his success. R
Rajinikanth, MD, Micro Systems-fondly called Rajini among his
peers-is marching ahead in every step of life and opening
subsequent branches; his success is widespread. “The name was
accidental and was a gift from my father who named me after a Rajput
warrior. Right from being ragged in college to imitate the celluloid
star, till today, all the representatives of the vendor companies and
any channel partner in the country easily recognize me,” says
Rajinikanth.

FRUITFUL
BEGINNING

An
enthusiastic Rajinikanth, during the college days, started a printing
press along with his friends and made good revenue in those days.
Later, after obtaining a Bachelors degree in Computer Science from
SNR Sons College, he joined a private company without salary. “Soon,
I got an offer from another company in Chennai with a pay of Rs 1,200
as sales engineer and in the year 1992, with a capital investment of
Rs 5,000, I started selling assembled PCs and became the authorized
dealer for TVS-E,”
says Rajinikanth who also adds that his initial days were tough but
he always used to swim against the current.

TOUGH
GETS
GOING

“As for
anyone, in the initial days, I also faced many ups and downs. In
fact, for the first 4months, I was the only all-in-all employee at my
office,” recalls Rajinikanth who simultaneously remembers his Hero
Honda sleek which has been his best companion in those days. “I use
to travel widely on that bike across Coimbatore and in Kerala, my
bike rolled till Calicut,” he shares. However, there were a few
businesses which gave great backlogs for him and that resulted in the
loss of a huge amount of money. Rajinikanth says, “Apart from Micro
Systems, I started a lighting business named MS Trade along with my
cousins as partners, which eventually closed down due to
nonperformance and I ended up with suffering a few losses. Again, I
started one more similar business unit in a different place by the
name of Mercom Systems which, I eventually understood was only an
emotional desire and not a practical one. Hence I closed it later.”
But there was a huge breakthrough in both his professional and
personal career post-marriage.

THE BEST
(LIFE) PARTNER

Two people
who entered his life and made some dramatic changes were his wife
Arthy and her father Nagaraj. “Arthy has been an ardent critic and
support to my life. Whenever I am down, she senses it and with a
sensual smile and compassion eases me. And my father-in-law is my
mentor who taught me planning, financial approach, performance and
socializing in his own right way. He also taught me the methodology
of doing business professionally,” he loyally cites. The couple is
gifted with two children Ajay and Arya, who, Rajinikanth says, are
his world. “Today, at times, even they support me to a great extent
which always encourages me to grow further,” he says.

SUCCESS
FORMULA

Rajinikanth
bifurcates his 20-year-old business life into 3 aspects. “First 10
years I sailed only with my hard work, had lot of sway in thoughts,
even failed in a few ventures. I learnt from my mistakes. The next,
10-15 years, I put on all those I learnt in the initial days along
with team management, developed patience and I was in a direction
towards my goal and managed my crisis. In the next 15-20 years, I
broadened my vision and made long-term plans,” Rajinikanth
explains. He also firmly believes that any business will be
successful only if the employees feel happy. “I cannot speak with
each and every customer. Only my employees are the face of my company
who represent me in front of my customers. I take utmost care of my
employees and ensure that they make the customers happy,” he adds.
He also has a great faith in the 'KISS' (Keep It Short and
Simple) policy. “Whatever may be the problem, if you delve deep
into it, you will find only two or three key problems which have
branched to various other issues. It is up to us to let our life keep
moving ahead towards growth,” he adds.

FUTURE
BUSINESS PLANS

Rajinikanth's
organization has branches in Coimbatore and Chennai. He also wants to
expand his business more. “Till March 2012 we will have 10 IT
stores and 10 Eye World outlets,” he says.

ADVISE
FOR
THE WANNABE TECH-TRADERS

Rajinikanth
advises the youngsters who want to involve into channel business to
concentrate more on the customer satisfaction aspect. “I will
advise those entrants to concentrate on customers than focusing on
competitors,” he affirms. Also, Rajinikanth advises them to be
ethical. “There are thousand ways to make money. However, at the
end of the day, whether we are having a peaceful sleep matters a
lot,” Rajinikanth says.

SOFT LIFE

Kodaikanal
for the hot locations and Kumbakonam for its traditional temples are
his favorite places of visit. “My hobbies are going for a long
drive in my car, listening to good music, especially old Hindi songs
and the tracks of Ilayaraja are always in my playlist,” he said. A
buff of good movies, Rajinikanth says that he will never miss a good
movie and Mugavari, Agni Natchathiram, and Sholay are his all-time
favorite movies.