This story is ideal to begin with the oft-familiar start ‘once upon a time’. There, in a remote Kerala village, a little boy Varun grew up watching his headload worker dad. His first ambition rooted from this everyday sight — to be someone like his father. Then he observed the dad sitting atop log-laden trucks to have a change of mind — nothing, but a headload worker. The youthful days mentored him to be a soccer player.
Deep within, he yearned to make it living one day. But destiny had it that Varun Chandran becomes the head-honcho of a world-class Big Data software company, Corporate360, headquartered in Singapore with its arteries running across five world nations in an enviable span of just four years. It's payback period for Varun to his homeland of Pathanapuram — a rural IT Park.
His decisions could seem quirky at times, otherwise who would open an IT company in rural Kerala that too refurbishing a tourist home to a five-staffed office? He explains his first recruitment experience there. “Rather than me interviewing the candidates, their parents were in fact questioning me. They were doubtful about the authenticity of the company and the intention of starting it in a rural area to whether we are fly-by-night operators,” Varun smiles.
And Varun knows how bitter the fruits of lack of education are. Raised in a close-knit community, accessibility to a school was literally a ‘distant’ dream for children. In other words, earning a living prioritised everything else for the villagers. Breaking the stereotypes, Varun’s mother got him admitted to a school, miles away from home. Most often, he covered the distance by foot. There were days he stood outside the classroom and listened to the lecture for not being able to pay the fee on time. Life’s unexpected turns started at fifth standard when he got into a boarding school in Pathanapuram itself.
The chance meeting with football coach Babu Varghese landed him in the school football team. Years later, he became the captain of the University of Kerala soccer team, Kerala Under-19 team and in 2001, won the GV Raja gold medal for the best junior football player in Kerala. The astonishing trajectory went on till what he calls “a career-ending terrible injury” at the end of his college studies where he injured his shoulder falling on the pitch amidst a tourney.
The period of confusion thereafter took him to Bengaluru where he shuttled from one job interview to the other many times to be rejected owing to his poor English. He surpassed the communication barriers to a great deal and the fourth company he joined took him to the US. “I remained with the company for three years and moved to Singapore after a six-year stay in the US. I was with Oracle there. The whole digital revolution was beginning to take place. I was looking at different options to collect data to get intelligence to perform better in my job,” says Varun.
The idea of forming an own company rooted. A favourable ex-boss stood with all motivation and even named it. “Still I continued with my job. One fine day, the first deal of $500 came. I screamed in excitement. The very next day, I put in my papers,” says Varun.
Varun is not searching the top scorers’ report cards for his employers. He gives a 10-day trial model where an aspirant employee can prove his/her skills on a given project and prove their mettle to be hired. So this is what precisely he plans for his IT Park too. “Firstly, we will continue to build our team and grow thereby creating jobs in rural Kerala, and employ educated women and youth from disadvantaged backgrounds. Secondly, we will provide space for a community hub for students from all nearby schools and colleges to join us for internship, ideation, entrepreneurship training and startup building. And finally, we will provide them mentoring, guidance and seed fund for selected start-ups,” he explains.
