Breaking new ground in B2B marketplace

Rohan Ajila, CEO,  indiamarkets.com

He looks like any other young laptop-savvy professional. But Rohan Ajila, 33, happens to be the CEO of a top B2B portal, which is breaking new ground.  On March 1, it launched TradeZone, the first-of-its-kind virtual trade fair in the country. Having tasted success in duplicating some terrestrial trade fairs on the online forum, Ajila and Co hit upon the idea of hosting a totally online trade fair.  After considerable ground work, they have put it up.  The month-long trade fair expects to bring together major, medium and small industry players, both Indian and foreign, from 12 industry segments, and form key alliances.

How did it all start for Ajila? It was a matter of gaining the right exposure at the right time.

He got his masters in finance at Houston, Texas. A stint as intern at the Houston Chamber of Commerce gave him an insight into the information needs of the manufacturing and trading community; a spell as information analyst with CRISIL and later as investment banker with TAIB Capital Corporation Limited gave him right exposure to the global finance.

Eyeing manufacturing business at close quarters reinforced his belief that small and medium enterprises in the country lacked an efficient marketing platform as well as access to trade-related information to seek business on the global arena.

He thought: Why not start something which can bridge the gap between Indian SMEs and global markets, in a manner which was different from others and at the same time easily accessible and cost-effective?

That was in early 1999, a time when electronic communication and interaction for business was being spoken of everywhere but not being brought into practice. Quickly he gathered round a team of like-minded people. indiamarkets.com came into being.

His aim was to provide relevant business information in the form of industry-specific news, analytical reports, and trade fair coverage, and bring together buyers, sellers and potential trading partners.

He adopted a three-fold approach: services through the website, its eBusiness Centres and eEnterprise products. The website has an exhaustive provision for online interaction and trading. For the SMEs/users who cannot afford their own online set-up, he set up eBusiness Centres across the country. The eEnterprise package is a comprehensive web-enabled business solution for manufacturers to buy and sell more practically and effectively.
Ajila, who comes from a well-to-do family from Mangalore, had his basic education in Bangalore. His father, an economist and financial consultant with Gulf Air, helped him develop an understanding of finance from an early age.

indiamarkets.com has obtained investment from EM Warburg, Pincus and Co LLC and Intel Capital, besides partnering with Ariba. The alliance, says Ajila, will give Indian suppliers access to big international buyers.

In the present dot-gone scenario, where does indiamarkets.com stand?

Within two years, he says, the company has around 48,000 registered users, trading across 29 industry segments and over 150 product categories. On an average, around 2,500 companies visit the site every day.

What about investments? And where does the company stand on revenue? He is not free to divulge that: `Our non-disclosure agreement prevents me from revealing it.'

Where does he see the company going?

First of all, he wants to ensure that the momentum continues. And then, become a one-stop solution to all business requirements.