RIDING THE WAVE OF SUCCESS WITH DARING AND ADVENTURE

Guru Salimath of Salimath Engineers, Hubballi is a multifaceted business personality and embodiment of the proverb ‘Where there is will, there is a way’. He is also bestowed with a great spirit of adventure and Loves to travel by road both driving cars as well as riding two-wheelers. Born on November 10, 1966 in Hubballi, he completed his schooling education up to 10th standard in Kannada medium, He pursued his PUC Science and Bachelor of Science (BSc) graduation with Physics, Mathematics and Statistics as his core subjects from P.C. Jabin College.

On completion of his BSc, he joined a Mumbai pharmaceutical company as a medical representative on April 1, 1990 and worked there for seven years. In 1998, he decided to set out on his own thinking that he would rather slog for his own venture than slogging for other organisations. He returned to Hubballi and worked in his father-in-law’s automobile business to learn the nuances of trading but still with no clue on what his chosen field at business activity would be, After a year, he decided it was time to start his independent business and explored the entire automobile market in Hubballi.

The business acumen of arming himself with financial capital by selling his ancestral property and the deep market survey were the two foundation stones on which he constructed his business activity. During his research, he found out that the automobile giants had stocks worth crores of rupees and his small capital was no match to their investment. Undeterred he explored newer opportunities with a philosophy that he wanted to do ‘Complimentary Business and not Competitive Business”. Around that time a major road development project was happening between Hubballi and Dharwad.

He met officials of the project development company and discussed shortcomings or hurdles that was hurting them most in implementing the project. He found out that the hydraulic system of the tippers was breaking down and every time they had to get a replacement from outside of Hubballi (either Goa, Hospete, Bengaluru or Koppal), He saw this as an opportunity to hit the gap and enter a niche market segment of unavailable spare parts. He travelled Koppal, Hospete, Goa and tied up with the dealers there for the components needed by the road development project company.

Despite not having a huge capital, as a smart businessman he always acquired two sets of components by paying in advance to the dealers and this ensured that the project development company would immediately get their replacement. Tapping such right opportunities and planning well ahead to meet possible customer situations ensured a positive growth to his business activities. He then took up the dealership of fuel dispensing gates hose pipes used by all major petrol bunks. He then decided to go on an all India tour in a small car to explore.

FAMILY

Guru Salimath is married to Geetanjali, who is a home maker. Guru and Geetha are blessed with two daughters Elder daughter Sharvani Salimath is studying MBBS State Medical University of Georgia country, state. Younger daughter Shambavi Salimath is studying 10th standard is a rifle shooter having won gold and silver medals in state-level competitions. Apart from practicing in the designated range, she also practices in a facility set up by her father on the terrace of his showroom on airport road.

Driving across the length and breadth of the country as well as crossing over into Nepal, he covered a distance of 10.000 kms in the process acquiring new customers n South India as well as Maharashtra. Chattisgarh , Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Orissa. Constantly exploring new avenues and exploiting market situations, he started hydraulic pump pipe crimping as well as dealerships for turbo chargers.electronic actuator turbo chargers, hydraulic system and fuel injection and body building for a major automobile company of India. At one point of time he also ventured as a sub-dealer for two major dealerships, who would stock automobile kits worth lakhs of rupees. The kits would remain unused as dead stock as some components would be missing as they would have been sold to retail customers Due to intense rivalry they would not cross sell to each other and both were piling up kits with lakhs of rupees. He took the onus of finding the missing components to restore the kits and helped both of them to liquidate their existing stocks. Most of his friends, classmates and family members were also instrumental towards his success. During the struggle towards this success, one of his old friends Mr. Mahesh Dambal was also equality involved. He would like to thank all of those who were with him during the course of his successful journey. Strongly believing in the dictum customer satisfaction was based on quality of service, he moved his business location back and forth before setting down in his own premises on the airport road in Hubballi. With a strong inclination for riding a Bullet, he bought a Thunderbird from Mysuru in 2010. When he went to the Royal Enfield showroom in Mysuru, a thought struck that he could also set up such a dealership as he always had a craze for two w heelers, especially Bullet bikes. The thought wont into the back burner of his mind as he picked up the bike and for the first time ever un his life riding a Bullet travelled all alone to Hubballi covering a distance of 567 kms in about eight hours - he left Mysuru by 2.30 p.m. and reached Hubballi by 10.30 p.m. With no proper maintenance facility for Bullet bikes in Hubballi, he decided to launch his own Royal Enfield dealership and his constant search on the internet opened up the window of opportunity. He convinced officials of the company, who initially had some reservations. Met with the expert of the two-wheeler industry R.L., Ravichandran who was with Royal Enfield at that time and launched his showroom on May 18.2011.

SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE

Guru Salimath and 12 other friends, including a doctor cum rider, a mechanic cum rider, a backup jeep as well as videographer and photographer went on a 6,500-km adventurous trip covering Pune, Mumbai, Gujurat, Jaipur, Jodhpur, NewDelhi, Chandigarh, Shimla, Manali, kargil War Memorial, Dras, Batalik, Leh, Ladakh, Amritsar, Wagah Border and return to Hubballi testing the veracity of a tough bike on tough roads. They travelled on the highest road peak of the world - 13,380 feet between Kargil and Batalik where temperatures range from -13 to -30 degrees. His future plan is to embark on a road trip to England in a car with a right team.