"Let Your Fingers Do the Walking...", Mr. Vinod Gupta

Mr. Vinod Gupta

B Tech. from IIT Kharagpur

'Let Your Fingers Do the Walking’ is the message of Mr. Vinod Gupta, Who would have thought one could find millions of dollars tucked away in the humble telephone directory.

Vinod Gupta B-Tech From IIT-Karagpur, his story is very interesting and full of inspiration, his enthusiasm has resulted in magical success.

In 1971 he was a 25-year-old marketing research analyst working with Commodore Corporation, a manufacturer of mobile homes in Omaha and one of his tasks was to compile a list of all the mobile home dealers in the United States. Since most of the available lists were incomplete, he ordered telephone directories and decided to create the lists himself. When all 4,800 Yellow Pages arrived at the office and filled up the entire reception area, his boss wanted the eyesore out of the place by 4 pm.

Gupta hired a moving van to transport them to his garage and offered to do the research on his own time; he also offered to sell the list exclusively to Commodore for $9,000 or give it to them free if they permitted him to sell it to their competitors. The company elected the second option.

With the help of another employee, he sorted the massive books by state and painstakingly compiled the information. He then borrowed $100 from the bank and invested the money in sending mailers out to mobile home owners. Inside three weeks, he had received cheques for $22,000 and orders for another $13,000. He then hired two part- time employees and launched American Business Information in 1972, creating various lists from the information lying dormant in ' the Yellow Pages. So successiill were these lists as a marketing tool that Gupta was able to quit his job and embark full-time on compiling a data base of every industry from A to Z.

Within thirteen years ABI had all the Yellow Pages covering the entire United States in its data base — valuable business information which could be utilized in a variety of ways. Today ABI has a market value of $500 million and 1997 revenues exceeded $190 million. The raw data is converted into accurate business-to-business marketing information and further information is added from company annual reports, 10Ks, SEC information, government publications, newsletters, newspapers and trade journals.

Gupta's original $100 has multiplied many times over into a business, which rakes in nearly $200 million in sales annually and provides employment to 1,000 workers. ABI went public in 1992 but Gupta's family still owns 50 percent of the company. Not bad for a boy from the tiny village of Rampur manhyaran, north of Delhi, a village which has no toilets, no electricity, no phones and certainly no phone books.

The Vinod Gupta School of Management VGSoM at IIT Kharagpur was established in 1993, and was the first management school to be setup within the HT system. It was initiated by a distinguished alumnus and a Life Time Fellow of the Institute, Mr. Vinod Gupta. The founders of the School felt that the competencies and resources acquired by the Institute in imparting education in the sciences and various fields of engineering could be harnessed to impart high quality management education. The founders felt that IIT Kharagpur could play a pioneering role in creating management schools within the IIT system offering unique program blending management and technology , These programs that would develop managers who would be able to understand and appreciate both the critical technology related issues and their management implications. This original concept has now been vindicated by the setting up of management program

most IITs. World renowned for its technological prowess, IIT Kharagpur has leveraged its strength in terms of infrastructure, intellectual resources and illustrious alumni to develop a Business Management school of the highest calibre.

The mission of VGSoM is to develop outstanding management professionals capable of playing leadership roles in their chosen cairers in organizations in different sectors of the economy, especially in technology-driven and knowledge based industries that are characterized by high degrees of globalization, dynamism, complexity and innovativeness. The main focus of the Centre is on advanced post graduate and doctoral programme in Business Management, Management Development and other areas.

Highly qualified faculty having considerable academic and industrial/consultancy experience and strong associated faculty of sister departments. The combined faculty of the school and sister departments give the school a high faculty to student ratio of about 1:3:5. Built on the foundation of a world-class education system created and nurtured over a period of five decades, close and collegial relations between students and faculty create an atm osphere conducive to learning. Opportunity exists for students to take electives from sister departments Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Industrial engineering and Management, and Humanities and Social Sciences. Being part of a large and vibrant academic community the management students have the opportunity to participate in a wide range of extra-curricular activities and develop their managerial and leadership capabilities. MBA at VGSoM is not just about long and rigorous work hours. There’s a lot more to student life here in IIT Kharagpur. With a sprawling campus and beautiful surroundings, the climate is always ripe for students have a great combination of work and fun. All round the year there are different kinds of events which keep the students involved and provide the recreational value.

Vinod Gupta invests US$ 1 million in law school

After setting up the first management school Within an IIT in 1993, founder and chairman of info USA, Inc, Vinod Gupta has now invested $1m to set up the Raj iv Gandhi School of Intellectual Law at IIT Kharagpur through the Vinod Gupta Charitable Foundation.

As India becomes an important player in various sectors of the new economy, intellectual property protection is inCre asingly importantFrom products to processes, Indian industry will have to be more and more patent and trademark savvy, going forward. The school of intellectual law will work towards educating lawyers in this

specialized area. The fact that it is located within the IIT system will make it relevant for corporates and corporal lawyers who wish to specialize in the patents area. Gupta, who is a 1967 batch alumni of IIT-KgP, remarked. “The institute will transform classroom knowledge into action by creating relevant corporate situations. It will provide world class legal education leading to a post graduate degree in law anc later doctorate programmes. IITs are recognized as world class institutions and I’m confident that IIT Kharagpur will beckon talented individuals to create a winning opportunity out of this challenging new discipline,” Gupta said.