We all have seen the Indian cricket captain; MS Dhoni on our TV sets advertising for MAXX Mobiles. But the road to reach this status was not with its own bumps for Ajjay Agarwal, the founder of MAXX Mobiles.
He left school when he was 15 years old for it did not interest him anymore and decided to join and help out his father in his electronic trading business in Mumbai. His downright fascination and passion for this business induced his parents to support him in his decision and they did not force him to complete his education. Beginning with helping out his father with the accounts, which earned him 4k-5k per month, he moved on to help his father branch out in other fields like garments, musical instruments, imported mobile phone accessories etc. Further, the experience gained from this move and subsequent visit to China and other countries to meet the manufacturers helped him when he launched his own company in 2002.
With a seed capital of Rs10 lakh from his savings itself, he had his firm registered in the name of Max Mobiles and Phone Accessories but it was only in 2004 that he set up Maxx Mobile as a company. Initially, he would stamp his brand name on imported mobile phone batteries and sell them to dealers in Mumbai. Handy with amazing skills and vision, he was able to create his brand and before the year ended, the firm had registered a sales figure of Rs15 lakh.
At the beginning of 2004, he set up his own small manufacturing unit in Malad, Mumbai. With 25-30 people as his employees, the manufacturing unit began its operations. He faced many obstacles in his maiden project. But he carried on and did not give up. His perseverance paid off and he expanded his operations in 2006 by moving into larger office space for the unit. The turnover for 2006-7 was Rs 2 crore, which increased to Rs5 crore the following year.
Today, with a company worth 1500 crore, a tag of one of India’s leading mobile brands and 550 employees and, Ajjay Agarwal has come a long way. For him, business is about not being afraid to make mistakes, but learning from them. He believes customer satisfaction is the utmost goal and it doesn’t end with the sale of goods. For this reason, there are about 2,000 MAXX Mobile service centres in the country. He is an inspiration to India’s youth and a finest exemplar of following one’s dream and passion. Like an enterprising man that he is, his future goal is setting up his own android mobile phone manufacturing in India.
With his perfect past record, it won’t remain a distant dream for long!
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