When business ceases to be confined to just sales, bottom line, profit and loss, people start investing themselves into it, and perhaps that is the greatest investment any business can achieve. Nikhil Dhand is one entrepreneur who has invested every fiber of his being into running his business, not just for achieving his entrepreneurial goals – which are defined numerically – but also to do a lot more than that. 

“I feel for people who do not have a source of income and have families to take care of. They turn to drugs and violence because of that, and it really disturbs me. My aim is to give back as much as possible, and I’m planning to do that by growing my company and expanding the job opportunities I can give to the people.” One might mistakenly dismiss this statement as idealist pablum spun by some politician, but Dhand has proved his mettle by his actions. “I know the value of my employees, and when the pandemic started I ensured that they and their families remained safe. They were not insured before that, but I took care of the situation, and now all of them are covered under health insurance.”

A similar philosophy of service is the reason why Dhand, who has no formal education either in business or mechanical engineering, entered his family business. His family has been in the steel business for three generations now, and it is only because Dhand wanted to stay close to his family and be with them that he turned into an entrepreneur. “I have a special connection with my mother, and to get a job would’ve meant that I had to leave the country. So I stayed for them.” 

Dhand’s advent was accompanied by sweeping changes in the company’s product portfolio, and a new way of working altogether. “Before I entered, our firm was limited to just one grade of steel, and we were not adding any value. I wanted to bring something that would be implemented widely. I studied the market and how products are used, and now we have 18 products.” Other than that, Dhand convinced his father to enroll the firm online much earlier than other firms did. “About 8 years ago, I had this realization that digital marketing was going to revolutionize the game. IndiaMart had just come up. I asked my father for Rs. 20,000 for listing ourselves on IndiaMart, which he was reluctant to give me. I promised I’d return him the money later. So he gave me Rs. 20,000 and I returned him Rs. 6 lacs later.” 

Dhand has always been one with an inquisitive mind, who feels he has a lot to learn and implement. The pandemic gave him the opportunity to do the same and strategize how his firm would move forward. “I upskilled myself during this time. I had a lot of things on my mind that I had to learn and I did all of that and more. Equipped with those skills, I charted my company’s trajectory, and after the lockdown we were prepared. Soon we were flooded with orders.”

The Growtharator programme has fitted aptly in his growth plan. He had a lot of expectations from the programme and proclaims he’s learnt a lot that he will, or currently is, implementing in his company’s operations. Professional networking, seamless organization and lastly, the fundamentals of finances are some of the things that Dhand has learned in the whole programme. “It has been a great education for me. I’ve learnt and implemented whatever I’ve learnt, and I feel one year down the line I’ll be on my path to fulfill my vision.”

Dhand has always moved forward with that never-say-die spirit, even on the worst of days. “There have been times when I was short on labour, and I’ve had to change my clothes and manned the machines. But one always has to keep in mind that days like these are limited. They are to be fought today and forgotten tomorrow.” And this never-say-die spirit coupled with his ever roaring hunger for knowledge is turning out to be a recipe for great success.

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