Col HS Bedi is an affable gentleman, pitched into a very tough business. As chairman of Tulip Telecom, he is eyeing a revenue of $1 billion by year 2014, and is today talking to global private equity players for selling some equity in the company to fuel further expansion. Last year Tulip?one of India?s largest telecom data services players?had a revenue of over R2,000 crore and analysts have already marked it down as the telecom company to watch out for.
The former army man, who worked in the forces till he was 42, does not give you any indication that he is 58 years old now. There cannot be many men of his age who dreams like a youngster.
In his case, he talks like he has just started. I guess it is difficult to rein in an army man.
?The army teaches you a lot of things. One learns to respect the other person, obey orders, be a tough individual and command when necessary. As far as I am concerned, I came out of the army at the right time. I was still young enough to take some risk. I was also lucky to have a good support system at that time. My dad had a house in Delhi, my wife was working, and so I decided to take the plunge.?
Bedi had joined the Indian Army, following his three generation old family tradition of serving the nation. He passed out of the NDA and then got an opportunity to learn computers in the Army?s Faculty of Computer Technology at MCTE, Mhow. After the completion of his training, he was appointed as an instructor in the faculty. As part of the student projects, he also got to interact with the industry thought leaders. He also had the privilege to be called upon to develop a large number of technology solutions for the then Chief of the Army Staff, General K Sundarji and various Army Headquarters Directorates. He was later posted to the Army Headquarters to coordinate the Army?s automation plan.
But after serving in the Indian Army for 22 years, Bedi wanted a new challenge. He wanted to join the corporate world. He joined Tulip as director. Under him, Tulip has established itself as one of the strongest network connectivity players in the industry. ?We want to now increase our market share in data services. Supplying bulk internet and international bandwidth is a high growth area. Managed services is another space we are excited about. We have some very big competitors in the market, but I am confident.?
It was a chance opportunity in Kerala that turned the tide for Tulip. The district of Malappuram was looking to become the first place in the country to be 100% computer literate. It was a government-led project called Akshaya. It involved getting the villages to become internet-enabled. But the problem was that the terrain was quite rocky and many people did not even have telephone connections. The only out was to have wireless connections, and Tulip did not need a second invitation to jump in. The Malappuram wireless project was declared a success, and Tulip made a big name for itself.
Bedi focused on the last mile connectivity, while the bigger players like Bharti and Reliance were busy looking at the seemingly larger business opportunities. In short, Tulip sneaked into a rarified space while the biggies looked away, and today it is a significant force to reckon with. It now plans to sell some stake in the Tulip Data Centre, to help expand its Bangalore facility.
For Bedi the journey has been a seamless one. What he practiced and learned in the Army, he has been able to transport to the corporate world as well. ?It?s all about the company, its growth and my employees. I have time for little else,? he says. ?At Tulip, I try to empower my employees as much as possible. I lead as much as possible but allow others also to shine. Just like in the army, the leader is the one who walks in front and takes others along.?
