Failures are not ghosts or revenge-seeking spirits, yet we all are afraid of them. But even when failures can be frightening, what matters is how we deal with them. Who would know it better than Mr Tej Kohli? The London Based Tech Billionaire, Philanthropist, and Investor was not handed success on a silver platter. He had to work his way to the top to reach where he stands today – with a grand Oxfordshire house in England, and the desire and means to collect some of the most exquisite cars such as a Ferrari 430 Spider, a Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, a Rolls-Royce Ghost, a Rolls-Royce Dawn and a Pagani Huayra.
Now every morning he sits in his home that has several acres of immaculately landscaped gardens and recalls even though things are easier now, it wasn’t like this always. He began his journey by studying electrical engineering at IIT Kanpur. He was later directly recruited in a Delhi-based company. But these good days were short-lived. During his days at the company, he pitched in his innovative idea of using a process controller to improve the efficiency of the factory’s operations – for which he was ridiculed by the manager.
But he didn’t do what most people would do – he didn’t give up, he didn’t underestimate himself. He knew his worth and was ready to take a stand for himself – because who would if he wouldn’t? So, the next few days he tried to reach out to the CEO. It wasn’t easy, considering the workplace hierarchy. But he did – by hook or crook. He pitched the idea to the CEO – he was impressed and made the manager sit as he delivered the pitch.
He recalls it as the highlight of his career, a stairway to success – but with many obstacles and many failures. In his late twenties, he founded his real estate companies in the USA. The companies were promising but unfortunately in 1994, he became a victim to an investment scheme that turned out to be dubious.
It was just a stopover – after losing everything. In 1999, Mr Tej Kohli began again, after finding himself in between the vistas and spectacles of Costa Rica. The country was the global technological hub as the world wide web was all set to revolutionize the world for good. He hired software engineers and started his company. His first proprietary venture at that time was a fraud protection software – it became quite a rage amidst investors and clients. Climbing the baby stairs, the company soon had a 600% year-on-year revenue growth.
It was just the start after a pitfall. In the due course, Mr Tej Kohli began investing in failing companies, turned them around, and sold them off at fruitful profits. He furthered diversified his investments by investing in real estate in East Asia, Abu Dhabi and Europe. Soon, his investments expanded to Esports, with which he became one of the biggest e-sports investors in Europe.
In Mr Kohli’s words, “Give me a place to stand and I will build an empire”, he has done what everyone dreams, but not what everyone works towards. He owes his gratitude to the US for nurturing his early entrepreneurial ambitions, even though he’s now in England taking the world by storm with his skills, courage, and dedication.