Raghav left corporate world to build 'Green Garage'
By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 02 December 2010, 20:24 IST   |    2 Comments
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Raghav left corporate world to build 'Green Garage'
Bangalore: A 29-year-old Raghav Rangarajan was not satisfied with the lucrative software job that he landed after graduation. The youngster knew how to chase his dreams and, two years back, chucked his 'safe' job to become an entrepreneur. He said Ignite, his workshop on the ECR Road in Chennai, is India's first 'Green Garage'. Saluting his entrepreneurial spirit, he was made a TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Fellow in 2009. TED is where the world's leading thinkers and doers gather to share ideas worth spreading. "When I was working as an IT professional, many of my friends started asking me whether I was going to start a workshop of my own. They also offered to pitch in with investment if I were to start a workshop. I hail from a family of working professionals. So, there was no chance for me to even dream about becoming an entrepreneur. In fact, my parents wanted me to work in a multinational company and be a general manager or someone like that. So, the idea of becoming an entrepreneur did dawn on me at all," said Raghav. Nearly two years ago, in February 2009, he decided to take the plunge and put in 500,000 from his pockets and his friends pitched in with another 500,000 and that was how Ignite was started. Rupees five lakh went as advance for the premises and 200,000 for civil works and 150,000 for the equipments. He employed two mechanics. "Today when I look back, I realize that the reserve money I had would have lasted only for two months. If cars had not rolled in, I would have had to close the shop. I knew about this at that time also but I decided to take the risk," he added.

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