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May - 2014 - issue > Entrepreneur of the Month

Raj Kamal: An Entrepreneur with a Reason!

Anamika Sahu
Friday, May 2, 2014
Anamika Sahu
Sometimes it takes years for one to realize his passion and follow it. But Raj Kamal comprehended it soon after he joined a small software company in New Delhi in 2004 to do his graduation project as a trainee.Within a month he started working on client end and soon learnt that taking orders is not his cup of tea. He wanted to be the master of his own and chase his passion of being an entrepreneur with a reason.

Raj believes in the words of Terri Guillements, "Chase down your passion like it's the last bus of the night". He left his job and went back to Bhopal where he was studying to start his own company OM Software in 2004. "I always wanted to give back to the land that made me who I am. Thus, I decided to start a company in a not so known place," reminisces Raj Kamal, CEO, OM Software. Fast forward a decade, and today Raj is successfully running three technology companies: OM Software Pvt. Ltd. - a software & mobile development company; Easy Media Network Pvt. Ltd. - an Internet Marketing, Online Media, Information Circulation, Social Media and Online Advertising; and OMCORPS – an IT Assessment & Infrastructure Management and Strategy Consultancy company that is also engaged in developing its own products on SaaS model.

For a person who comes from a small town from Bihar and who belongs to a lower middle class business family, it is a great triumph. Though his father ran a small business there, he always emphasized on education. "My father is my source of inspiration. I owe to my father for whatever I am today. His strong ideologies and disdain towards illiteracy always encouraged us to be the source of good amend for the society," explains Raj.

Breaking the Palpable Norms
But things were never akin to moving a knife on the butter, rather a path full of pebbles that has to be crossed with naked feet. "Define what success looks like for you then go after it. When I left my job, I did freelancing for a year and half to gain relevant knowledge to start my own company in Bhopal," says Raj. Raj has always been an average student, thus was deprived of sitting for placement campuses in the college. He understood that there were millions of students like him who studied in small colleges in small towns but gifted with great potential to be great employees. On the flip side, there were few bright students who were abide by their family responsibilities and could not leave Bhopal. This is where Raj decided to start his company in Bhopal and generate employment for such students, and let them have a brush with an MNC like work environment.

However, running an enterprise from a small place had its own drawbacks. "It was a daunting task to explain the prospective clients about what a small town company can do. Adding on spices was our empty envelop of client portfolio," explains Raj. But gradually time paid and today OM Software is a known name in the IT Services industry with office in Bhopal and Hyderabad, serving clients including The Next Idea, AllTechPros, TransStrategy, MyPortpty Ltd., SMIT Pty Ltd., ADamigo among others. The company has grown organically and stands tall at Rs.40 million. A big 'NO' to external funding, Raj ploughed back company’s profit for further expansion. He believes that one grows if he takes calculated risk and does not share it with others. "Once you take external funding, you become answerable to them and follow their instructions. They will have say on your decision making and this is what I don’t want to share," adds Raj. He vested complete power with himself and grew leaps and bounds. Sanjeev Kumar, COO and Praveen Khare, CTO have been his support pillars since the initial days of the company. The workaholic Raj spends 18 hours of his day grooming his company. His day starts with threading a to-do-list for the day. Though he is a busy person, one can always find him high on spirits and happy-to-go-lucky mood.

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