Harshal Pawar

Zhang Ruimin : The CEO & Chairman of World’s Leading Appliance Maker Company

Inspiration, Story, Tech Story / By Harshal Pawar

Business is not easy to run, especially, if there are no risk takers or competent leaders. When a company is under major crisis, it’s the leader’s job to step up and take necessary actions to overcome the difficulties. Companies that survive the worst storm come out strong with exceptional energy to surpass their competitors. Haier is one such company which has emerged so strong after it almost sunk that today it has become world’s fourth largest white appliances company. And all the credit goes to Zhang Ruimin who is now the chief executive officer of Haier Group.

Early Life

Born on 9th January 1949, in Laizhou, Shandong, China, Zhang Ruimin’s parents worked in a local garment factory. During his high school, the Cultural Revolution was shaping up rapidly. As a result, he joined the Red Guards along with other students. During the revolution, most of the schools remained closed so students could not attend classes. At such free times, Zhang visited Mao’s birthplace and also attended rallies.

The revolution also resulted in shutting down of most universities, therefore, halting education once again for Zhang and other students. He started working at the state-run construction company, in Qingdao, in 1968.

Early Career

Due to the unprecedented circumstances, Zhang could not complete his education properly. But, the fire to learn and educate himself, kept burning inside him. Therefore, he used to travel back and forth, for the management courses, on his bicycle, in between his shifts. Zhang was also a voracious reader, and read extensively on management.

zhang-ruimin — Image Source: thinkers50.com

After years of hard work, Zhang was promoted to workshop supervisor and, after a long 12 years of service, in 1980, he was promoted to deputy director of Qingdao. In the next couple of years, Zhang got promoted to higher positions. First, as the deputy manager of ‘Household Appliance Division’ of Qingdao municipal government, and next, as the general manager of Qingdao Refrigerator Plant. The second position came to him by surprise, as the previous manager left, and the company needed someone experienced for the position. The company was in deep financial trouble when Zhang took the General Manager’s position.

Resurrecting Refrigerator Plant

Once, on a business tour to Germany, Zhang noticed some crucial problems in terms of reputation and quality. The company was performing in both the cases. While on his way back, he decided to conduct a demonstration for his workers to make them understand the importance of quality of products.

This was the time when a customer came to Zhang with a faulty refrigerator, and they both went through the whole inventory of 400 refrigerators for replacement. During this process, Zhang found out that their products had a whopping 20% failure rate. He called for all his workers and assembled around 76 faulty refrigerators. Each worker was then handed a sledgehammer, and he ordered the workers to destroy each of those 76 refrigerators. The cost of each refrigerator at that time was so high, that it could cover their two years’ worth wages. Zhang himself took part in destroying the faulty products because he believed if they didn’t destroy them the products would destroy the company one day.

This act not only created a positive attitude in workers but, also gained the company lots of publicity, which helped them to reach big markets in Tianjin and Beijing. Zhang’s management style changed the complete scenario of the company. And, by 1986, the company saw major profits, marching up to 83 per cent.

Haier Group

Qingdao Refrigerator was renamed to Qingdao Haier Group, in 1991, and Zhang was still handling the post of the general manager of the company. He also enrolled himself at the University of Science and Technology, in China, for a master’s degree in business administration. After he graduated, in 1994, and the year before, he was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Haier Group.

As a CEO he decided to spread Haier abroad and reach international markets. The company started shipping products to the Middle East and Africa. The company, soon, started expanding to numerous countries, including the United States of America, with its total workforce ranging at 30,000 people. Financial Times listed Zhang among the ’50 most respected business leaders in the world.’

Personal Life

Zhang Ruimin’s wife was a party secretary at a textile factory in Qingdao. He has a son who studied business at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Harshal Pawar

Harshal Pawar is an avid reader, a TV show addict, and a writer. He has a personal blog brainwork.wordpress.com where he jots down his articles and poetry about love and life.
He is currently pursuing film-making and wishes to bring the words written on a paper to the screen. More of all he is a scorpio.

Stelios Haji-Ioannou : The Founder of EasyJet

Founder, start-up, Story, Tech Story / By Harshal Pawar

The airline industry is one of the largest operating industry, in current time. The aeroplanes have truly connected the world and brought it closer. Each day, millions of people travel from one country to another or even within the country, through flights. Therefore, airline companies have also buckled up to provide top-notch services for their customers and make their travel experience unforgettable. One of the main features that airlines are trying to introduce is the cost of air tickets. The aim, is to make air travel affordable, for every individual and some of the companies are already on top of it, like EasyJet.

Founder of EasyJet

EasyJet was founded by Stelios Haji-Ioannou, when he was just 28, in the year 1995. Born on 14th February 1967, in Athens, Greece, his father was a self-made Greek-Cypriot shipping magnate. He is the second child among three children in his family. He has an older brother, Polys, and a younger sister, Clelia.

Stelios completed his secondary education in Athens, and then further went to London School of Economics to earn a BSc in Economics, in 1967. After completing his BSc, Stelios went on for a higher degree and enrolled himself in Cass Business School for MSc in Shipping, Trade & Finance.

His outstanding performance in the entrepreneur world was recognized by numerous prestigious institutions. He received four honorary doctorates from Liverpool John Moores University, Cass Business School, Newcastle Business School, and Cranfield University.

Early Career

Stelios started his work, in 1988, with his father’s successful shipping business called Troodos Shipping Co Ltd. He received a sum of £30 million from his father, when he was just 25, and used that money to start his own shipping company named Stelmar Shipping. He was also known as a self-made “serial entrepreneur”.
In 2001, Stelios listed Stelmar Shipping on New York Stock Exchange. And, in 2005, the company was sold to its rival OSG Group, for a whopping $1.3 billion.

The “Easy” Brand

Stelios started the Easy venture, in 1995, with its first business of low-cost airline named EasyJet. This venture was managed by Easy Group, and Stelios took the position of Chairman. The first EasyJet flight operated between Luton and Scotland.

With this first flight service, EasyJet set on to revolutionize entire European air travel. In the last two decades, the airline service has become a stellar success achiever and the most preferred air travel option for flyers.

In 2000, Stelios observed the need to fund the company for further expansion and, therefore, partially floated EasyJet onto the London Stock Exchange. Stelios and his family members are the highest stakeholders in EasyJet and own about 34% of shares, which are calculated worth £6.8bn as of 2015. EasyJet PLC has now become the largest airline company in Europe and owns more than 240 jets, carrying more than 85 million passengers each year.

Stelios joined hands with Lonrho PLC in Africa to start a new low-cost airline service called Fastjet. The airline company started operating on November 29, 2012, with its first aircraft Airbus A319.

Personal Life

Stelios stays in Monaco as his family left Athens when he was a teenager. He is also known for his charitable works and owns a charitable trust called Stelios Philanthropic Foundation. The foundation works towards education, entrepreneurial, and environmental initiatives.

Stelios received a knighthood from HM Queen Elizabeth II, for his services to entrepreneurship.

Harshal Pawar

Patricia Russo : The Former CEO of Lucent Technologies

Story, Tech Story / By Harshal Pawar

The 21st century has led many changes in the way this world works. It has given rights to people to work and live the way they want to. Today, women are given equal respect and status, as the men in the working class, encouraging the women empowerment. Such a wave of change brings in huge positive impact on the society as a whole. Women in every business, are doing a great job and contributing as much a man do as a businessman. One example is that of the woman who served as the CEO of Lucent Technologies – Patricia Russo.

Early Life

Born on 12 June 1953, in Trenton, New Jersey, Russo’s father was a physician. She has five siblings, of which two suffer from different disabilities. Patricia learnt the importance of being kind and caring from her those two siblings.

She went to the Lawrence High School and graduated in the year 1969. She was the captain of the cheerleading squad, during her high school. Further, she went to the Georgetown University, to study Political Sciences and History, and pursue a bachelor’s degree in it. After graduating from the university, she landed up with the sales and marketing team at IBM, as her first job. Her eight years job at IBM, helped her develop a customer-centric perspective, which she would apply in her future management style. She was also one of the only women, working in the sales and mentioned that people did not believe in her in the early years.

Career

Russo left IBM, and joined AT&T, in 1981, working in the marketing department. During that time, she quickly rose to higher ranks and made important contributions in the human resources, operations, and strategic planning departments. In 1989, Russo completed an Advanced Management Program from Harvard University, and AT&T immediately hired her as the president of Business Communications Systems. She turned the whole scenario at AT&T, and made it the most profitable business, of that time.

Patricia Russo — Image Source: conferences.law.stanford.edu

In 1996, AT&T decided to spin-off its equipment division, and so was born the Lucent Technologies. In 1999, Russo was appointed as the Executive Vice President and Chairwoman of Lucent Technologies, which put around 80,000 employees under her.

After a rough patch at Lucent Technologies with the CEO Richard McGinn, Russo left the company in 2000, and took a small break, catching up with her hobby of painting. In the month of April 2001, Eastman Kodak offered her the position of President and Chief Operating Officer, which was also the position, which made Russo the first woman to take over at Eastman Kodak.

By the time, Lucent started facing enormous losses, and its shares were down by almost 50 per cent. The internet boom had a major impact on the company, and to be able to survive, they needed a leader who could take them out of such a storm. After McGinn’s removal as the CEO, Henry Schacht decided to bring in Russo back on the board. And on 7th January 2002, Russo was handed the responsibility when the company was in crisis.

When the price of the Lucent’s share was less than $1 per share, Russo promised that the company will come back strong soon. Her strategies led the company to a steady growth from the massive downfall, and the progress looked promising.

In 2006, Russo managed to break a deal between Lucent and Alcatel (a French telecom giant). This deal was a multi-billion dollar deal and promised to be the greatest mergers of all the time. In 2008, Russo stepped down as the CEO of Alcatel-Lucent due to the massive losses, the merger was facing and was not able to generate any profits. She was appointed on the Board of Directors of General Motors on 23rd July 2009.

Harshal Pawar

Ma Huateng : The Wealthiest Man in China & Co-founder of Tencent

Founder, start-up, Story, Tech Story / By Harshal Pawar

The invention of social media platforms has brought the whole world closer. It has connected millions of people around the globe. The genius minds behind the development of such software and applications, deserve success and they have achieved it. From Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, in the US, to QQ in China, all the social media platforms are receiving a whacking response. Chinese internet entrepreneur, Ma Huateng, founded Tencent, which is the biggest internet firms in China, making him the richest man in China.

Early Life

Ma Huateng was born on 29th October 1971, in Dongfang, Hainan, China. His family moved to Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, as his father was a port manager, in Shenzhen. He enrolled at Shenzhen University, in 1989, to study software engineering, and graduated in 1993, with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science.

Early Career

After graduating, Ma took a job, as a software developer, with China Motion Telecom Development and developed software for pagers. In that job, he made around $176 per month. In his next job, Ma worked in the research and development department, for internet calling services, in Shenzhen Runxun Communications.

Founding Tencent

In 1998, Ma along with his four classmates founded Tencent. Ma had participated in a presentation, for ICQ, which was the world’s first internet instant messaging service, started by an Israeli company. In February 1999, Tencent launched its first ever product. The product was a similar version of ICQ, but with Chinese interface, and was named OICQ (where O stands for Open). This software received a huge response, and it gained more than a million registered users, just in the first year of its launch. OICQ, soon, became one of the largest internet instant messaging services, in China.

The early days of Tencent were hard and full of struggle, for all the four co-founders. In the beginning, the company was funded through the money they earned in the share market. The first few years proved to be crucial for the survival, and Ma took various roles, from janitor to website designer, in the company, during that time. Tencent’s initial services included e-mail and internet paging services.

After the launch of OICQ, there were several controversies, and Tencent also faced a lawsuit from America Online (AOL). After acquiring ICQ, AOL filed a lawsuit against Tencent, in the United States, and claimed that OICQ’s domain names OICQ.com and OICQ.net, violated ICQ’s intellectual property rights. Tencent loss the lawsuit, and also suffered heavy costs. They had to shut down both the websites. Soon, Ma changed the name of the software to QQ and decided to expand his business horizon.

Tencent became the largest instant messaging service, in China by 2004 and also launched an online gaming platform, which attracted more than a million online gaming people. The company also launched WeChat, in 2015, after they conducted a competition between two teams of engineers. WeChat is one of the largest instant messaging apps, used all over the world. Ma also plans to launch an internet hospital that will provide long-distance diagnosis and medicine delivery services to the needy.

Personal Life

Ma Huateng is also popularly known by his nickname Pony. The name is derived from the English translation of his family name, which translates to ‘horse’. He serves in the 12th National People’s Congress and is a great supporter of the Government. He believes in: “Ideas are not important in China – execution is.” He was awarded Innovative CEO of the Year, in 2015. He owns a palatial residence in Hong Kong and also supports charity.

Harshal Pawar

Ted Turner : The American Media Tycoon and Co-founder of CNN

Founder, Inspiration, start-up, Story, Tech Story / By Harshal Pawar

In every century, there comes a person who brings a revolution to the world and the world witness a new wave of development, after such revolutions. A similar person revolutionized the television industry from 1980 onwards. From starting a 24-hour news channel to broadcasting films, sitcoms and gifting the children with their favourite cartoon channel, this man named Ted Turner, is a television and media magnate.

Early Life

Born on 19th November 1938, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Ted Turner’s original name is Robert Edward Turner III. He was born to parents Robert Edward (Ed) Turner Jr. and Florence (Rooney) Turner. He was the eldest child in the family. His father owned a company, Turner Advertising, which sold billboard ads. His father suffered from bipolar disorder, experiencing mood swings, and vented out his anger on young Ted. After years Ted found out that he too suffered from bipolar disorder just like his father.

Ted was left alone in the Cincinnati boarding school after his father signed up for Navy when World War II broke out. Ed came back after the war and moved to Savannah, Georgia, with his family. He enrolled Ted into Georgia Military Academy. Ted attended McCallie boarding school, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he received military training. He wanted to attend the United States Naval Academy, but his father wanted him to attend Harvard. Due to low grades, he had to join the Brown University, in 1956. In 1959, Ted was kicked out of the University for having a woman in his dorm room. He could not earn his diploma and the same year his parents, too, got divorced.

The beginning of Business Career

Ted, then came back South, in 1960, and took up the position of general manager at his father’s company. He was the general manager of Macon, Georgia branch of Turner Advertising. Just in his first year, Ted showed tremendous growth and doubled the revenue of the company. But soon, the company was in a difficult financial condition, when his father bought the company’s competitor, in 1962. This led him into depression and he committed suicide, in March 1963.

After this shocking incident, Ted engrossed himself more in work. He took the positions of president and CEO at the age of 24, and consequently, made the company a global enterprise. The company boosted in financial profits and was considered to have a monopoly in Savannah, Macon, Columbia, and Charleston. In 1969, Ted bought several Southern radio stations and renamed the company as Turner Communications. He sold the radio stations and purchased a couple of struggling television stations. By 1970, Ted Turner became famous as the owner of the largest advertising company, in the southeastern United States. His investment in television channels proved highly profitable as he believed that people wanted several choices. He also purchased rights to old movies, sitcoms, and some cartoons.

But it was in 1976, that a big leap occurred when the FCC gave him the permission to use satellite technology to transmit content to local cable providers. This led Turner to reach an even larger audience. Now, with more audience base and even more broadcasting options, Turner changed the company’s name yet again to Turner Broadcasting Company. He was constantly on the lookout for new business ideas and expanding his broadcasting to larger and larger audiences. It was in the late 1970s when he came up with an idea of starting a 24-hour news network. And in 1980, he launched Cable News Network (CNN) with the help of Reese Schonfeld who was then appointed as the first president and chief executive officer of the channel.

Throughout the years, Turner was constantly investing to expand his business horizon. In 1976, Turner acquired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), and in 1992, he launched Cartoon Network, which went on to grow one of the most famous cartoon channels, all over the world. In the same year, he launched Turner Network Television and Turner Classic Movies, which made him the leader in both television and internet fields. In 1996, he sold his company to Time Warner for a whopping $7.5 billion. He ventured into yet entirely new business just the next year i.e. a steakhouse serving bison named Ted’s Montana Grill.

Personal Life

Ted Turner married three times and is divorced all the three times. He is the father of five children from his first two marriages. Two from his first wife, Judy Gale, and three from his second wife, Jane Shirley Smith. His most famous marriage was with the actress Jane Fonda, that lasted for ten years and broke over religious disagreements. He is known as the individual owner of largest land in North America.

Harshal Pawar

Eugene Kaspersky : Russian Entrepreneur & Cybersecurity Expert

Founder, start-up, Story, Tech Story / By Harshal Pawar

The innovations in the technology have taken the human way ahead of his time. Today, the use of internet has increased tremendously, as the service is reaching to every corner of the world. And, the wireless technology is increasing this expansion, like never before. But, every innovation has an anti-hero, which makes things worse in the system. The similar anti-hero, in the internet place, is a virus. It has become a potentially dangerous threat that can bring down huge companies just in a matter of hours or sometimes less than that.

But, humans have always found a solution to the problem. Our capability of solving issues is unmatched and therefore, we are the most genius brains on this planet. A solution to eradicate, and even avoid, such dangerous viruses is an ‘anti-virus’. Today, world’s biggest cybersecurity companies are constantly developing programs to make the internet and the computers a safer place. Kaspersky is one such leading company, founded by a cybersecurity expert and a math genius, Eugene Kaspersky.

Early Life

Kaspersky was born on 4th October 1965 in Novorossiysk, Russia, to an engineer father and historical archivist mother. His family moved to Moscow when he was just nine. Kaspersky became interested in mathematics at an early age. He also got attracted towards technology, which would prove beneficial for him in his future. As his interest grew in mathematics, he started participating in competitions and soon, he won the second prize at the age of 14, in one of those competitions. The same year, he went to attend A. N. Kolmogorov School, specializing in mathematics, run by Moscow University.

eugene kaspersky — Image Source: http://www.abc.net.au

Two years later, at the age of 16, Kaspersky got selected for a five-year program, with the technical faculty of KGB higher school. He was to be prepared for intelligence officer for the military of Russia and KGB.

In the year 1987, Kaspersky graduated in mathematical engineering from the Institute of Cryptography, Telecommunications, and Computer Science, Moscow. During his graduation, he gave special attention to cryptography and upcoming computer technologies.

Early Career

Kaspersky started working at a cryptography institute, sponsored by KGB. During this time he was introduced to computer viruses and quickly got attracted to solving these threats. His interest got serious when he first discovered a virus called Cascade Virus, in 1989. He went forward to analyze the virus and developed his first antivirus disinfection program. He kept on finding new viruses and subsequently, kept developing disinfection programs for the same.

He left the research institute in 1991 and took a job at Information Technology Center of KAMI, where he worked on his antivirus program full-time. Kaspersky set a base for what would be known as Kaspersky anti-virus company. He worked on AVP (Antivirus Toolkit Pro), which was also improved by his colleagues at KAMI. He released the product officially in 1992 and the product was sold to 10 clients, per month, bringing in the revenue of about $100. His clients mostly included companies from Ukraine and Russia.

Founding Kaspersky Anti-Virus

In 1997, Eugene Kaspersky decided to set up his own company. He co-founded AVP, along with his wife Natalya. This was due to the boost in sales, the product witnessed from 1994 when Hamburg University placed Kaspersky’s antivirus software at the first place. And, in 1995, Kaspersky’s software was only one software, which could get rid of the Chernobyl virus which made the software even more famous.

In 2000, AVP was renamed to Kaspersky Anti-Virus after its business was weakened, as an American man registered the AVP trademark. Soon, the company started growing in terms of employees and its software capabilities.

Finding Harmful Threats

Over the time, Kaspersky gained phenomenal success and fame by discovering cybersecurity threats. They brought down harmful threats one after another. The company hired a researcher, who discovered the Stuxnet worm, which destroyed Iranian centrifuges. In 2012, the company discovered another Stuxnet like virus called Flame.

Kaspersky was also successful in bringing down a group of hackers, Carbanak, who was stealing money from the bank. Kaspersky then became an internationally famous cybersecurity Russian company. Eugene Kaspersky became the CEO of the company, in 2007, and from 2012, he started working on software to protect important infrastructures, like power plants from cyber-warfare.

The company has over 3000 employees and has annual revenue of $711 million. Today, the company’s evaluation has reached $1 billion.

Personal Life

Kaspersky has a net worth of 1 billion dollars, and currently, lives in Moscow, Russia with his wife and five children. He divorced his first wife and the co-founder of the company, in 1998. After the incident, when his son was kidnapped, in 2011, Kaspersky travels with bodyguards.

Harshal Pawar

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