Univercell Founder Director, D. Sathish Babu Games Up For A New Venture

Thirty years ago, when Sathish Babu started his corporate sales career as a trainee sales officer with Eureka Forbes, it was almost initiation by fire. Within a few weeks of on-the-job training, he was thrown into the deep end of the pool and given a dictum – sell or perish!

- Nikhil Raghavan

“It may have been the challenge, worry, determination or ego… but, on the very first day on my own, I not only sold my first vacuum cleaner but even collected cash payment in full, much to the wonderment of my boss. I haven’t looked back since. I have never allowed myself a ‘No, it cannot be done’ solution to a challenge,” recalls Sathish, who, ten years later, left on a whim to try and chart an independent course for himself.

Sathish was married by then and had a responsibility to shoulder. His father was sceptical when he brought up the idea of starting a business, and that too, in a field which had no precedent. “It was 1997, the mobile phone services were just launched, phones and services were exorbitantly priced, and the grey market was flourishing. But, I knew, it was a ‘now or never’ opportunity. To start with, I wanted a small place to operate from (my father offered his garage), a tiny sales force and more importantly, a name that would be easily to recall. Thus, Univercell was born,” reflects Sathish.