Entrepreneurial success stories often orate the ebb and flow of the life of an entrepreneur. Stories of success amidst extreme struggles are always inspiring, and motivating people to face challenges, but, at the same time, it may be demotivating for some people who wish to become entrepreneurs without compromising a comfortable life. There are plentiful of people who will consider becoming job-givers instead of job-seekers if entrepreneurship is demystified and less intimidating. Realix Founder Sandip Diwate is one of those who demystified entrepreneurship and made his difficult journey look effortless.
The Background
Sandip belonged to one of the millions of lower-middle-class families who live a resourceless yet dreamful life. His family included four sisters, his bus-conductor father, and his mother. The family’s income did not allow a privileged lifestyle to Sandeep. It was only with great difficulty and his entire family’s hard work that he managed to study his chemical engineering. His younger sister had to compromise on her studies and career by helping her mother make and sell sweet boxes to earn extra money for Sandip’s education. Throughout his childhood and studies, Sandip got to make many friends who belonged to wealthy families and often got nervous noticing the difference in their lifestyles. He grew up with the upset of being the poor-one amongst other moneyed friends.
“I always felt during my childhood that my friends are rich because their families own a business. The innate desire to do something on my own and my belief system propelled me to become an entrepreneur.” – Sandeep Told KenFolios
The Struggle
After finishing Chemical Engineering, Sandip decided to pursue management studies. He soon enrolled with the Symbiosis Institute for a distant MBA course and took up a job at Diversey Lever – a Uniliver Group company, to support his education. In the year 2005, Sandip completed his MBA and joined 3M.
Sandip served 3M at various important positions till 2010. Despite being placed at a very good rank, the entrepreneurial desire remained alive inside him. In 2010, after accumulating some savings to support 7-8 months of trouble-free survival, Sandip gathered the courage to set himself on an entrepreneurial voyage and formed Realix Industries (Proprietory Firm) in the year 2010.
Sandip amassed a good experience of dealing with road safety systems while he worked with 3M, which made him offer Traffic Safety Systems through his first company. For almost two years, his company manufactured quality Thermoplastic road-marking paints under the brand name Rexotherm and executed several high profile lane marking highway projects using these paints like Mumbai Pune Expressway, The Yamuna expressway, etc. His Chemical Engineering background, his experience, and miraculous communication skills helped Realix do exceptionally well in the first two years.
In the year 2012, Sandip – along with a friend Nidhi Khullar(An IT Professional) – formed a new company named Enviro Safety Private Limited – this company started offering industrial automation, system integrations, wireless, and telecommunication integrations for hazardous-area applications.
The Rise
After the launch of Enviro Safety, there was no end in the sight of growth for the duo. Sandip and Nidhi embraced a storm of innovations in Artificial Intelligence, and a combination of internet and AI in industrial process-related automation and integrations. Realix was one of the first of the very few companies to offer comprehensive and dynamic solutions incorporating connected sensors into the industrial processes using AI-enabled computing devices. Realix soon grabbed huge contracts from several clients like RIL, BPCL, HPCL, ONGC, BP, ADNOC, etc, for automating some of the critical processes for their refineries.
In 2014, Realix ventured internationally with fully owned company Realix UK, based out of Birmingham, United Kingdom. This overseas arm helped international clients to avail their services at a better cost, and also gave Realix access to international technology and resources. With the international presence, Realix started getting international business offers. A Switzerland based company invested 200 cr in Realix Group which helped setting up a state of the art manufacturing facility in the UK for AI-enabled rugged and intrinsically safe devices and sensors which can be connected as part of IoT and IIoT architecture. The group currently also has a presence in the middle east through its company Enviro Abudhabi LLC.
Currently, Realix Group headed by Sandip Diwate is amongst the most accomplished and versatile 4G enabled AI device making companies. Realix is manufacturing IoT & IIoT applications and infrastructure to help businesses achieve digital transformation and enable smarter and efficient use of technology in various processes. Realix also has a very strong presence in the road transport sector in India through its revolutionary ‘mVaahan App’ developed exclusively for automating processes like fitness inspection and new vehicle registrations at RTO (Regional transport offices). This app is currently approved and used in the states of Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh by transport commissioner offices. Realix group did a turnover of Rs 480 cr in the last financial year. For some who is the son of a bus conductor and grew up in a lower-middle-class family, these accomplishments are out of ordinary.
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