The moment Brij Bagga entered the PanIIT conference ground at Mumbai's Bandra-Kurla Complex, he got rid of the formal jacket of his three-piece. The president of the Singapore-based software firm Zenith Infotech and an e-learning company Auratech felt "at least 20 years younger when he walked in".
"It feels great to be meeting so many old friends after so many years." We don't doubt his words. He was seen sharing a laugh and memories over tea along with the Delhi IIT 1970 batch, which included his classmate and the present Raymond boss Nabankur Gupta. The duo, both in their mid 50s, wasted no time picking up threads of their IIT days and pulling each other's legs. For them, time had come to a standstill.
Having done his BTech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Delhi, Bagga started off his career at the R&D division of Tata Electric designing microprocessor systems. Passion of entrepreneurship lay hidden in his heart right from the beginning.
"I always had the desire to do something on my own. But being inexperienced and without money, I had no other option but to wait."
After Tata Electric, Bagga joined oil exploration firm Sculumberger and did some projects for Bombay High. Then he joined Uptron as the Mumbai regional manager before shifting base to Singapore.
His dream for entrepreneurship materialised with the launch of Zenith Infotech and Auratech in Singapore.
Zenith Infotech Group was started in 1997, primarily with the vision of offering state-of-the-art IT solutions to various organisations and thereby helping them increase their productivity and competitiveness. Its prime focus areas are:
IT professional services involving contracting/placement of highly skilled professionals.
Distributes development (onsite & off-shore) of turn-key software projects, e-learning products and services.
The Zenith Infotech Group comprises of Zenith Infotech (S) Pte Ltd in Singapore, Zenith Infotech Inc based in USA, Zenith Infotech Pty Ltd out of Australia, and Zenith Infotech Ltd in India.
Zenith Infotech Group has grown since its inception and employs 300 professionals worldwide. Zenith Infotech has been engaged with large IT savvy companies, consulting organisations, system integrators, and the government to help them increase their productivity and efficiency.
"If I get job satisfaction working for Zenith, I get vocational delight out of devoting time to Auratech," says Bagga.
And as for reliving the old days, "a visit to Mumbai, a city of memories, will do wonders," says the middle-aged entrepreneur.