We hear many stories of how several famous people achieved success at a much later age. Colonel Sanders successfully established his famous fast food restaurant chain at the age of 40, Oprah became a billionaire at the age of 49, and so on.
It is the story of Sailesh Nair, Founder, and COO of the Esclare Group and Clarichem Industries, who established his first official business at 23 and is still going strong!
He is the son of Sasidharan Nair, retired from services, and Sashikala Nair, a homemaker. He has an elder sister, Swathi Menon, who is a doctor.
Although raised in a strict household, self-discipline was second nature to this overachiever. Having a proper routine throughout the day enabled him to make the most of his time. As is consequential of a busy academic schedule, Sailesh had limited resources to pursue his passions. He nevertheless took a particular interest in music and sports, braving the sole condition by his father that it should not impact his education.
Sailesh perfectly embodies the famous quote by Aristotle:
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is therefore not an act but a habit.”
Sailesh is an alumnus of The Bishops School, Pune, and he graduated high school in 2008. He is also an alumnus of Jayawant Rao Sawant College of Engineering, Pune, where he did his Bachelor’s in Engineering, majoring in Mechanical Engineering. He graduated in 2012.
Beyond school, his interest in extracurriculars expanded. He participated in Baja SAE, a Collegiate Design Series competition run by the Society of Automotive Engineers International. Enrolling in Baja gave Sailesh the much-needed exposure in people and team management. He learned how to coordinate and orient a team towards a common goal.
Upon graduating college, he joined the workforce in the mechanical engineering vertical. In 8 months, he realized that his job did not spark joy and bravely decided to switch to IT. He switched to the Marketing and Advertising vertical, where he gained over two years of exposure to Campaign Management. He worked in a Multinational Company with far reaches, and thus, had the opportunity to campaign for clients across various geographies like Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, and further to the UK. During this time, he became aware of the need for Water Conservation technologies and allied concepts.
Sailesh began researching this curious field. He tried to understand India’s stand-in Water Conservation and Waste Management. He was disappointed to realize that the country’s water harvesting and conservation were as destructive as any third-world country.
It was here that Sailesh questioned the steps that authorities were taking for Water Conservation. The sum of all water content in the world has remained constant for millennia together. If water was sufficient for the populous biodiversity of the world all this time, why are we constantly falling short of it?
In pursuit of answers, Sailesh started signing up with research organizations like Organization De Scalene, an Indian organization headed by an Indian Scientist – Dr. Rajah Vijay Kumar. Dr. Kumar has more than 38 scientific patents from diverse fields like telecommunication to nanotechnology, medical industry to wastewater concepts. He was also involved in various technologies, leading a team of researchers. Working with this technical team, Sailesh came across unfamiliar solutions for water and waste management.
Sailesh formulated his business plan – promoting technologies for technical research teams required to sell their product. As researchers labor over the technicalities of the product, Sailesh and his team would assist with getting their product onto the market.
Foundation of Esclare Group
And thus, was founded the Esclare Group. Its business mission is:
To promote sustainable, ecological, innovative, and disruptive solutions for development and growth while striving to protect our natural resources for the future.
It took one year for Esclare to take off. In this year, Sailesh and his team researched for niches where they could capitalize upon. The first product that Esclare promoted was the “Water from Air” concept – a device that can generate water from thin air. It was a good product launched in India. This product piqued his interest in these novel concepts of water management and water recovery procedures. Esclare thus took the stride of the Make in India movement and focused on Indian technologies.
From promoting Water Machines, Esclare diversified into Wastewater treatment. It was challenging to market these essential products, as most industries focus on manufacturing and increasing yield compared to the other backend processes. Sailesh decided to take on this challenge – to handle these facets for the companies.
Esclare promoted a technology that would clean Industrial Wastewater without utilizing any chemicals or biological means. From a conventional perspective, wastewater treatment methods involve spurious chemicals or biological concepts. This novel device used shortwave radio frequencies to break down particles in the water. The property of the waves is altered to facilitate the breakdown of various elements/particles. There was a tremendously positive response to this technology. The cleanliness of the treated water proved the efficacy of the equipment, and it confirmed to IS:10500 Standards after treatment. Wastewater treated from factories was clean enough to be considered potable!
Esclare was simultaneously promoting an efficient Waste Management Technology – the “Waste to Energy” technology. It required harvesting kitchen and household wastes and putting them through a process to generate methane-rich gas. The gas can be used as a cost-efficient fuel or to produce electricity. Esclare calibrated its business to B2B mode of sales for their solutions.
The financials for the company were straightforward – Sailesh built his legacy with capital that he had loaned from his father. Beyond the capital, his business was fuelled by the proceeds from sales. Sailesh did not require a pitch for external funding or cajole investors. In two years, he was able to repay the loan he had taken.
The company has successfully operated in multiple states like Maharashtra, MP, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu for the past six years. The research team tests the viability of the technologies, and the firm promotes the solutions to clients and handles post-sales activities. Esclare provides end-to-end solutions and support from design to commissioning stage. From a catalog of several technologies, the entire plant is designed as a single product custom to a client’s specific need
s. The team then handles designing, planning, installation, and commissioning based on the agreed scope of work. They also take up consulting assignments from time to time to advise businesses or small-scale industries.
As with all success stories, there was a turbulent time of uncertainty and self-doubt. Sailesh founded Esclare at the age of 23. He explains that the most challenging part of the initial year of business was convincing stalwarts and veterans of industries to use new technologies as a 23-yr old. It was challenging to gather a meaningful audience and prove that solutions work better than their conventional methods. There were not many installations on display, and clients wanted proof that these technologies worked. Due to this, there was a considerable loss of business.
There were times when Sailesh went to bed wondering whether his venture would work. He says even to date, doubts and uncertainty always creep up. There is always the worry about what to do next.
The first year was the toughest, as there were absolutely no sales. Although the Esclare team was researching the available market, it was a long time to invest in this activity. Sailesh had quit his day job to support his business, and he was earning no income. He also met with several minor to major accidents ever since he initiated his business venture, which worried his family into peer-pressuring him into letting his business go, citing reasons from superstition to inexperience. He held his business the strongest when it was hardest and persevered until his first client gave him his first revenue. It was then that he realized the power of believing in his goals and efforts.
Some clients took them at their word and went ahead with their technology despite having no visual proof. Sailesh indicates that the relationships nurtured and the trust forged with the client helped get him his big break. He emphasizes that when you are allowed to prove yourself, you take it immediately, work hard and prove yourself.
He remarks that, in hindsight, he had little guidance from experienced entrepreneurs. He powered through his trials and errors till he established what worked for his business. Sailesh was firm about wanting a business of his own. He decided that he could develop everything else along the way.
Dr. Kumar was his trusty mentor. When the world was on his shoulders, Dr. Kumar advised him against giving up and gave him a little insight into what the life of a researcher used to be, as research was not seen as a lucrative field back then. It is in his mentoring that Sailesh was taught to keep fighting.
Presently, Sailesh plans to diversify into specialty chemicals to expand his market and improve sales. To expand his firm, this young entrepreneur is hiring for positions in site work, sales, and production verticals.
Covid-19 may have temporarily struck his business, but it did not manage to get Sailesh down. Although pandemic halted several ongoing projects of Esclare, he directed his newly established firm – Clarichem Industries – to produce sanitizers and antibacterial chemicals, thereby generating additional revenue and capturing the new market.
Sailesh concludes his experience to date by mentioning that had he knew then what he knows now, he would take the difficult path of entrepreneurship many times, as it is a wonderful and fulfilling experience. He advises budding entrepreneurs never to give up, no matter the hardships. There is always a better tomorrow. Rejections are to be embraced, giving you a better opportunity to learn where your product is lacking. Improving your products based on rejections will help convert failures into sales.
Like us on FB, if you find our content interesting: https://www.facebook.com/hatkestoryofficial/
Do you have an interesting incident or experience to share with the world? Write to us, and together we can discuss how to weave your story and present it to the world. Would you mind sending us your story?
