Write Comment     |     E-Mail To a Friend     |     Facebook     |     Twitter     |     Print

Manipal : The three-day 27^th Convocation of Manipal Academy of Higher Education came to a close on Sunday at KMC Greens with chief guestMr Mahesh Shahdadpuri, Founder and CEO of TASC Outsourcing, UAE impressing upon the graduating students never to give up. “Setbacks are only temporary. It’s never over. Setback always has seeds of a comeback,” he said.

On the last day when 1387 students and their parents and well-wishers were present, the successful entrepreneur, an alumnus of the University, spoke of his own failures and successes to inspire the students who will take their next step in life.

He recalled the difficult days when he struggled to get a job after completing his graduation from Manipal Institute of Technology, neither here nor in Dubai where his father was. “Nobody even called me for an interview,” he said. My struggle looking for a job continued for a long time. I was a good student, but couldn’t get a job. What was wrong?”

“Rejections made me stronger. Finally, I landed a job in Dubai and all I did there was cleaning up computers. I left the job in three months got another job and quit that as well. Then I went to Boston to do my MBA. Two years passed and I was hunting for a job again”.

“I searched and searched and after 12 interviews I hit a jackpot. I got a job in Intel because I never gave up. But then, I always wanted to do my own business. I started my first company in 1999. I wanted to build a million dollar company. I put in all the money I could lay my handson, from family, from banks and my own money. And I promised the world to my employees. And then as fate would have it, I lost everything”.

Days and months went by and I started feeling ready again. I wanted to start a company again and very aggressively this time. I started a few companies which is part of my group today. I wanted to do something special, something different. Be number one in the world. Today we are 5,000 people with operations in 20 countries with 77 nationalities, we have 80 million customers, we have won several awards and we are doing well.

You may not get your results right away. Respect the process of failing and learning. Don’t stop learning. Learn from everywhere, learn from everyone, learn from nature. There is learning everywhere. Be passionate, do what you love, exercise, meditate, explore, blossom, get out there, experiment a little. Be you. And you will get solutions to problems you face.  

Gold Medal Winners: Deigant (MIT), SohamMitra (BDS, Manipal) NyimaLhamo (BSc Nursing, MCONS, Manipal), Raihana Abdul Jabbar (MPH Epidemiology, PSPH, Manipal)