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From the slum to corporate niche

Sarath Babu

Danny Boyle may not have known a Chennai youngster while making his Academy Award-nominated film Slumdog Millionaire. But he could very well have made the film on 29-year-old Sarath Babu. And, that could only have made the film more engrossing, inspiring, and even more realistic.

Mr. Babu told engineering students his rags to riches story at “Technopreneur 2009,” organised by the Young Indians Net of Government Model Engineering College and Microsoft, here on Saturday.

The meteoric rise of Mr. Babu from an impoverished Chennai slum to the founding chief executive officer of Food King Catering with an annual turnover of Rs. 9 crore leaves even the most dramatic of Bollywood scripts pale in comparison.

From a child, who nearly drowned at the age of 12, who almost dropped out of school unable to withstand the embarrassment of not even having a decent dress to wear, his story makes for a heady cocktail.

But he outshone his more blessed friends at school in one thing – studies.

He did it brilliantly well and topped the class. “There was no other way I could draw attention at the school,” he said.

After all, in the growing up years that was the only way for him to acknowledge the sufferings of his mother who slogged it out by selling idlies for the sustenance of the six-member family. That Mr. Babu made it even while selling idlies on the streets of Chennai testifies his determination.

He then turned a bookbinder to ease the burden on his mother to continue his schooling. And when his teacher reprimanded him for a slight drop in performance in Class XII, he restricted his talking to 10 words a day. The idea was conservation of energy for studies, as his daily intake of food did not increase with his growing up. So when his friends used to come discussing girls and films, he confined his response to a nod. He topped the class again.

Later, he excelled as a chemical engineering graduate at Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, and then at IIM, Ahmedabad. The turning point in his life came during his IIM days in the form of a media report saying how 30 per cent of the Indians lived in extreme poverty.

Gone as the dream of a job with a fat pay slip. In its place was formed a vision.

“I want to see a hunger-free India,” he shared his vision with the students.

Thus was born Food King in Ahmedabdad with an initial capital of Rs. 2,000.

His business now spans six places employing 250 people.

With the turnover set to clock Rs. 20 crore by the end of this year, Mr. Babu is dreaming big – opening 500 branches across the country giving jobs to about 50,000 people in the next five years.

If humility is the biggest virtue, then it is Mr. Babu’s forte as he continued to live in the same hut as in his childhood. His biggest idol continues to be his mother, whom he once believed loved water more to food, only to realise later that she was starving after feeding her children.

“Success is what we define it and not what others dictate,” he said. His speech oozed inspiration and at the end, the youngsters gave him a standing ovation – to help them redefine success.

M. P. Praveen

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