The success story of Nitesh Kumar Phulwani

Gulf News

See more at https://gulfnews.com/videos  At 25, this industrious millennial is running a multi-million dirham business in the UAE. We find out his story, and what drove his sucess. #MillennialMillionaire #Success #Business

Transcript

00:00Solar energy is the future. The fact that climatic change has happened, people have

00:08become more aware of it today and are taking the necessary actions needed to leave this

00:12world better for the future generations than the one we have inherited. We feel this will

00:17be a much, much better source of power than the coal-based or gas-based power plants.

00:22It reduces the carbon emissions and it is as good as planting trees.

00:26I am Nitesh Vilwani, the Managing Director of this company, BDP Energy Pvt. Ltd.

00:35Relentless focus on quality is the key to our success. BDP Energy was established in

00:412015 and since then we have seen tremendous growth considering it was a new venture in

00:45an upcoming field by a freshly graduated student. We initially started with EPC and since then

00:51we have expanded internationally with regional offices in Dubai, Jaipur, Delhi, Mumbai and

00:56Pune. We forwarded into manufacturing our own module mounting structures, engaged in

01:00distribution of panels and inverters of top quality brands, namely SMA and Trina, along

01:05with financing PPAs. Our focus on providing the best customer service, complemented by

01:10affordable renewable energy, is what makes us stand out in the ever-growing renewable

01:14energy market.

01:19I had freshly graduated out of the University of Kent three years back at the age of 22.

01:24I had completed my Bachelors in Business and I had no interest to study further but

01:27I really eagerly wanted to get into business. So with motivation in mind but no idea, I

01:32started speaking to a few smart classmates of mine. One of them introduced me to the

01:36idea of solar energy and how we could tie up with the government of India as India at

01:41that time was really aggressively promoting solar power. So I used a few of my contacts

01:46in the government to set up a few meetings. My friend got his work done with the government

01:50and that left me with the idea. Eager to do something of my own, here was my idea to

01:54enter the business world.

01:59I was born and brought up in Dubai in a family where everyone had their own businesses started

02:03from scratch. Being a Sindhi, in most cases all our stories don't go back more than two

02:07generations where the second generation like myself are born into a silver spoon as you

02:12can say and the previous generation that left their hometowns from India and started accumulating

02:16their wealth from zero. So the common areas of first generation businesses were food,

02:21FMCG, textiles, electronics along with real estate. Listening to my dad's story growing

02:26up where he used to tell me he started work at a very young age with little to no money

02:30in his pocket and to always appreciate the small things in life, be humble, kind and

02:34to just keep it simple. From listening to a person who started building his business

02:39brick by brick to seeing him head in empire always made me look up to him and that's something

02:45that I wanted to do and something how I wanted my life story to be. Sadly my dad passed away

02:50when I was 16 and my elder brother Deepesh took over a family business of textiles, constructions

02:54and real estate. My brother funded my education and reckless university lifestyle and not

02:59once make me feel like a big void in my life exists. After my graduation I just had two

03:05motivations. Number one, to not take this life I have been given for granted and to

03:09respect it and to make my brother and dad proud. And number two, to somehow make it

03:14really big in the business world.

03:19All the efforts I've put and I'm so deep down into this. What would the outcome be? Regardless

03:25after contemplating back and forth I just took it as a challenge. Even though I had

03:29many days with tears in my eyes thinking why aren't things working out? What am I doing

03:33wrong? Why are things not clicking despite all my efforts in the right direction? But

03:38success or breakthroughs don't come easy. You have to go through a path of relentless

03:42persistence before you can take the quantum leap. I was adamant that I have the potential

03:49to create a whole business. Not just take over some family division or some business

03:53of my family division. But motivation in itself is not enough for people to believe in you.

03:59There needs to be a track record. I knew if I somehow got myself to spend a few months

04:03in India I could figure out how to pick up my first project or how to bag my first client.

04:09Now how do I get to India was my next question. So my mom and my brother used to keep traveling

04:14to India every month for a few days and I somehow convinced them to take me with them

04:18so I could help them out in their daily chores. So I used to work with them five to six hours

04:22every day. I tried to finish it off as early as I could and the rest of the hours I used

04:27to go meet my prospective clients, get their feedback, improve on my proposals and quickly

04:31present to them before it was time to fly back. Needless to say it took me maybe six

04:37months of traveling back and forth before I finally signed my first contract and I

04:40had it in hand. Well some people would say that is good. But as soon as I got my contract

04:45the next problem was looming large. That was how do we get the finance? How do we get the

04:50capital? The next problem was looming large in my head. Capital. A signed contract in

04:58itself is not enough as it has many risks associated with it. Mainly default. It's

05:04really easy to sell anything to anyone if you just tell them buy this today and pay

05:07me ten, twenty, thirty days later, whatever. But the cycle is completed once you receive

05:12the full payment. So I struggled to raise capital from friends and family but a businessman

05:17is a problem solver. I had another idea in my mind which is page 24, paragraph 1 of chapter

05:223, how to fund your projects without capital 101. I attended a solar expo in Dubai and

05:31I met with all the companies there who are now my competitors. All I had to do was find

05:36an experienced enough firm who would do the project for the lower rate than I had closed

05:40my contract. And out of the 200 companies, one agreed. And the margin in between was

05:45how I made my first money or risk capital for myself. Today I fund megawatt scale projects

05:50for myself and others as I have a proven track record of completion. And my family backs

05:54me completely without any questions asked in all my solar business divisions. Mistakes

06:00and experience is really necessary to grow as a person in life or in business. But those

06:04mistakes or setbacks should not be two expenses of a lesson. I've had my fair share of mistakes

06:10in my life and have a solid foundation of what needs to be done and avoided. End of

06:14the day, all businesses are conducted the same way. It's just the product that differs.

06:19If you know someone who has made it big in a particular field and have an idea which

06:22closely replicates the operations, it could be trading, distribution, manufacturing, services

06:28or brokering. All you have to do is make them your mentor, jump in the new field,

06:33use their guidance, and you will 100% succeed without any pitfalls.

06:39I remember once I was really excited as by now I had been given the working capital after

06:44my first project to build a team. As a new company, I was conducting the interviews myself

06:50and I had hired just one person for sales. The meeting went brilliantly. The person was

06:54due to join the next day. I got to office really excited the next day as my first recruitment,

06:59my first building of the team, something I had waited for. So the next day when I get

07:04to office, the person who I had hired, he gives me a call and he says, sorry, I will

07:09not be joining your new company. I'm going to join somewhere else because I feel like

07:12your company is too small. I remember after cutting that call, I just turned my chair

07:17around and I just could not figure it out that even now after so many setbacks, like

07:21why are things not going my way? But today I look back at it and it makes me laugh because

07:26now I've got a sales team of 30 people and a full-time staff of 45 in just three years.

07:31So I guess I took it well.

07:36Looking back at the journey so far, the future is definitely bright. We have crossed a turnover

07:40of $5 million this year between our four solar divisions and by next year we are planning

07:45to add a fifth by manufacturing our old solar inverters under the Make in India vision by

07:51India's Prime Minister Modi. Seeing the sharp rising sun every morning, our headquarters

07:55will be based in Dubai under the patronship of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and continue

08:00to grow in the GCC as Dubai is the main hub for conducting our business thanks to the

08:03flexible DIVA policies and the solar economic outlook of Dubai. Our in-house team of experts

08:09complement the vast experience of top-level management. This way we secure great deals

08:13procuring state-of-the-art technology and designing cutting-edge systems, keeping customer

08:18service at the heart of all operations. The future is definitely green. We regularly

08:23hear statements and actions taken by our leaders. Let us turn to the sun to power our future

08:28as famously said by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed by announcing the world's largest concentrated

08:34solar power plant to be in the UAE.

08:41It is a great wave to be a part of. BDP Energy foresees its mission to deliver affordable

08:46green and clean energy solutions with the highest level of efficiency, whereas our vision

08:51is very distinctive as we dedicate our resources to create a healthy, progressive and create

08:57green communities and parallelly become the world's leading EPC in the renewable energy

09:01market.

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