Anshuman Agrawal started a business after quitting his job at Tata Motors. Anshuman’s oil purification products trading company Minimac Systems Pvt. Ltd, now clocks a Rs 20 crore turnover.
A young Tata Motors engineer turned denied a trip to South Korea to work on a joint venture truck project with Daewoo and quit his job to start his own business. Anshuman Agrawal, over 15 years later, says he was inspired to become an entrepreneur after seeing the film ‘Guru,’ starring Abhishek Bachchan, which was released that year.
Anshuman is the founder of Minimac Systems Pvt. Ltd, a Pune-based company with a Rs 20 crore turnover.
Minimac Systems is an oil purification equipment company that cleans the oil used in machineries in key sectors such as steel and power plants.
Anshuman was only 24 years old when he made the decision to become an entrepreneur in 2007.
Anshuman claims he bought a two-bedroom house on EMI since he didn’t have much money and didn’t want to ask his parents for help.”
Anshuman claims he had only Rs 2000 in his bank account and was relying on his PF fund to get his business off the ground.
He says, “After three months, a sum of Rs 50,000 was released. I almost started with a smidgeon of capital.”
Anshuman’s remuneration at Tata Motors was Rs 35,000 per month, but was only able to save Rs 10,000.
He intended to buy a bike and thought his wage would cover it, but he was able to do so only through EMI.
“Tata Motors was working on Prima Truck, which was a joint venture with Daewoo in South Korea,” Anshuman explains.
“Tata Motors was looking for someone to manage the project in Korea, and Anshuman’s name was on the shortlist.”
He explains, “I was already doing all of the work for this joint venture in India, so they wanted me to attend.”
The business had recruited Anshuman because of his experience in vehicle design.
He received his B Tech in Mining Machinery from IIT Dhanbad and won a futuristic automotive design competition held by IIT Kharagpur in 2003.
Anshuman’s team was bestowed the best car design award by Venkat Sumantran, who served as Tata Motors’ Executive Director at the time.
Anshuman says a three-person team that worked under him was developing a futuristic automobile for 2025.
His team had imagined cars powered by lithium ion batteries, puncture-free tyres, and virtual reality augmented window, which have all been realized now, Anshuman says.
He was working in the New Product Innovation department of Tata Motors when he decided to leave and start Minimac Solutions, a trade company for industrial machinery lubricating supplies. Anshuman was so much moved by the movie Guru, which narrates the story of Dhirubhai Ambani that he resigned the next day, he says.
Anshuman says that if Tata Motors could put their confidence in him to lead a global corporation, he could undoubtedly put his trust in himself to start something new.
He started Minimac Solution, a sole enterprise, from his two-bedroom residence, with a table and a computer.
Anshuman picked the trade business since it required minimal capital.
The firm took off quickly, and after six months, he hired his first employee.
The company did roughly Rs 2 lakh in business in its first year, and by 2012, the turnover had reached Rs 2 crore.
After making some money, he decided to close his trading company and establish a manufacturing operation.
In 2012, he founded Minimac Systems Pvt. Ltd with Rs 5 lakh to develop oil purification equipment and systems used to purify industrial lubricants.
“Trading was never my thing,” he admits. Anshuman’s goal was to bring innovative items to market while also indigenizing production.
Anshuman says he hired roughly 10 workers from the prior firm.
He says, “Minimac technology eliminates the need for clients in diverse industries to change different types of oils. Minimac is the world’s only technology that eliminates solid particles, water / moisture, and air / gases from oil all at once.” Clients in the power, steel, cement, paper, sugar, automobile, plastics, and other industries use these.”
The company’s initial manufacturing facility was established in the Talwade industrial district of Pune.
Minimac’s revenue was Rs 13 crore in 2019-20, but it decreased to Rs 7 crore the following year due to the pandemic.
They have recently recovered to achieve an all-time high turnover of Rs 20 crore.
Anshuman was able to complete the turnaround so quickly because he exploited the pandemic to rethink his methods.
During the shutdown, he planned numerous internet activities such as webinars and communicated with clients from all over the world.
