From washing taxis, ironing clothes, office boy to . . . CEO and CMD
From washing taxis, ironing clothes, office boy to . . . CEO and CMD
Valerian Paul Lobo was the 5th child in the poorest family of a remote village of Mangalore. His father dug graves and the family stayed in a small shack near the cemetery. Realizing the need and urgency of significantly contributing to his family’s well-being; he studied upto Xth in the vernacular medium at Mangalore and came to Mumbai soon after; during which time he continued further studies under street lights.
In Mumbai he stayed in the Sunder Nagar slum area in South Mumbai, washing taxis and working in a laundry. When slapped by a taxiwala, he screamed back in broken hindi with tears in his eyes – Aaj mein aapki taxi dho raha huun; kal mein khudki gadi mein ghumoonga (Today I am washing your taxi, tomorrow I’ll be driving around in my own vehicle). The luxury sedan outside his office proves he has indeed come a long way.
Realizing the criticality of learning English and Hindi to forge ahead in life and make a decent living; he promptly discarded all his vernacular medium books and periodicals and began buying and reading the Times of India with the help of an English-Kannada dictionary. The investment of 80 paise a day pinched him hard, as he had to support himself and send money home to his family too. He further learnt touch typewriting at Davar’s. The group of boys with whom he lived, taunted his English-speaking aspirations and activities. He nevertheless persisted, keeping his eyes firmly on his Vision. Investments made in learning English made his pursuit of higher education very easy.
He secured his first job as an office boy in a Trading Company run by a Gujarati. He pursued his education completing his graduation through correspondence working in this company for 5 years. This employer was prominently acknowledged at his first AGM. All his employers till date are shareholders in his company.
His parents being illiterate, he did not get any parental or other guidance from family or community. He therefore looked upon those doing well from other communities to learn about business and prosperity. He was so much accepted by the Gujarati, Marwadi and Sindhi communities that he was taken in to attend their internal business community events where he was amazed at how promptly wealthy businesspersons of the community quickly pledged significant financial support to their fellow needy community members.
He specifically went abroad for 3 years to increase his income to get his sisters married off. Thereafter, he returned, and took up a job at 1/6th of his Gulf salary only so that he could pursue FURTHER STUDIES and learn how to run a business. He was married and the father of a child when he enrolled for his part-time MBA. He feels successful completion of his MBA propelled him into a completely different league. He chides especially gulf-returned Christian youth seeking jobs in his company at salaries benchmarked to their past salaries; rather than focusing on learning and building a strong foundation for their future.
He decided to get into the real estate field because he feels that it is badly in need of getting organized and professionalized. He is strongly influenced by Narayan Murthy of Infosys. He feels if an ex-Patni Computers employee could start an admirable IT company, why can’t he do the same in the Real Estate industry. His Vision is to create the INFOSYS of the Real Estate Industry in terms of professional entrepreneurship; and not just to build and accumulate personal wealth.
He progressed from working as an office boy to being the CEO of EVERSHINE BUILDERS. One of his past employer’s AGARWAL GROUP has a nominee on the board having invested a significant amount in his venture. Today as the Chairman and Managing Director of T3 Urban Developers Ltd. he points out there is no change in his status. He continues to be an employee, drawing a salary as determined by his board.
He carefully built his Tier III cities Real Estate Business Model; keeping in mind his own strengths and weaknesses Vs the strengths and weaknesses of the major Real Estate players in big cities and the market and business realities in Tier III cities. Understanding and speaking 7 different languages — Konkani, English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Tulu and Kannada; allows him to connect easily. He strongly believes that knowing a language is an asset and a critical bridge for communication and prosperity.
To businesspersons from the community, he urges them to stretch outside convention and achieve more by seriously investing in advertising to rapidly grow their business. He discloses that more than 50% of his business has come from the readers of The Secular Citizen and Divo.
He personally invests a significant amount of his time in 1-to-1 career counseling. He travels to remote villages researching conditions and exhorting youth to study and often sponsoring the education of needy children. He earnestly exhorts educational institutes, especially English medium schools to give free seats to poor Christian students and give them and their families an opportunity to break out of poverty through their own efforts. He strongly encourages youth to pursue and capitalize on higher studies like MBA that has the potential to catapult them into a different league when combined with hard work and application.
He doesn’t believe in luck. He believes in hard work and smart work. He acknowledges he has been through very, very hard struggle; but he’s enjoyed the struggle. Smooth struggle, joyful ride, he says, calling himself the most blessed person in this city – because many struggle and yet don’t make it. He compares it to athletics: For a high jump, a short run-up is sufficient; however for a long-jump a long run-up is a must!
(As narrated to Raymond D’$ouza, Business Coach)
Published in the Sep 2011 Newsletter of the Christian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Mr V P Lobo is CMD T3 Urban Developers Pvt. Ltd. www.t3urbandevelopers.com
