Ritesh Agarwal - The Self-Made Billionaire

First-generation entrepreneur Ritesh Agarwal’s feat of turning his start-up into the world’s third-largest network of hotels, accommodation options and managed living and work spaces is truly amazing. What’s more amazing is that the college dropout, who is just 25 now, has achieved all this from scratch and in six years flat! We bring the story of his incredible journey of building OYO Hotels & Homes.

- Pooja Mujumdar

With a portfolio that comprises more than 31,000 hotels and 1,25,000 vacation homes, OYO Hotels & Homes offers over a million rooms to customers globally. Today, OYO Hotels, together with its vacation homes category managed under OYO Homes, Belvilla and DanCenter brands, enjoys a presence in 80 countries, including the US, the UK, India, Malaysia, Middle East, Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan and several countries in Europe. What’s more amazing is that this incredible achievement has been pulled off by a first-generation entrepreneur—Ritesh Agarwal— now 25, who started this venture when he was just 19!

Growing up

Ritesh Agarwal was born in the Rayagada district of Odisha. Hailing from a middle-class family, he harboured dreams of starting his own business, from a young age. After completing high school, he moved to Kota in Rajasthan for higher studies, while preparing for engineering entrance exams through private coaching classes. Simultaneously, he would travel to Delhi to attend start-up events, where he would be inspired by stories of entrepreneurs from around the world. He proceeded to Delhi to pursue his graduation, but ended up dropping out of college. “I wanted to utilise the time in building my business. Since I was very sure that I wanted to start on my own and couldn’t wait to begin, college didn’t seem like making the best use of my time. Moreover, I believed in what Mark Twain famously said, ‘I never let my schooling interfere with my education’,” quips Agarwal.

Setting up shop