Company description::
Shubhayan Udayan Mukherjee – young, brilliant and very very successful. A quick snapshot of his life proves my point. Mukherjee started his own company at 18; graduated from Bachelors of Science in International Business Administration with a GPA of 3.96 at 19, and became CEO and Chairman of a multinational company with branches in 10 countries and investments in almost every sector of the industry before he was even allowed to drink legally in the United States.
Asked why all his companies bear his name “Shubhayan”, Mukherjee responded, “Because I love my name”. It’s another word for Nirvana; “Shubhayan” means an auspicious path to freedom from the circle of life; to attain enlightenment is to become Shubhayan.
A man of contradictions and impossibly high energy, Mukherjee has enchanted society like a enigmatic Pied Piper, by growing his corporate empire so rapidly and opening fully functional offices in 10 different countries by 21. People in the corporate world either love him or hate him. Few remain neutral. Mukherjee defies convention and makes himself impossible to ignore.
We spoke with Mukherjee from his San Diego office, asking him to share his story firsthand. For hours, Mukherjee joyfully launched from one story to the next, recounting his life experience.
Born in Kolkata (then Calcutta), West Bengal in 1981, Mukherjee moved to Nairobi, Kenya when his father got transferred there. Since then, Mukherjee has lived in Cambridge, London, New York and San Diego. “I am a citizen of the world, I have lived in 4 different continents and I loved all of them. Each one had something different to offer.” When asked what he gained from his diverse upbringing, he says, “Eight languages, incredible fluency in cross cultural communication, and patience...lots of patience.”
Mukherjee came to America in September 2000, and here began his meteoric rise to fame. “America has more opportunities than all the world put together. Information Technology, import/export, medicine, entertainment. I own this country.”
A year after his arrival to America, Mukherjee incorporated Shubhayan Industries, Inc., which has since been rated as one of the fastest growing multi-nationals in the world with international offices in Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, Singapore, Tanzania, and United Kingdom, all of which Mukherjee visits every two to six months to make sure everything is operating smoothly.
Last year Shubhayan Industries had annual figures of $1.5 million and are on track to making $2.5 million this year. All this started with an initial investment of $50,000, which was acquired by maxing out credit cards.
Before starting Shubhayan Industries, Mukherjee was Vice President and Director of Marketing of a multinational chemical company with offices in United States, Europe, South America and Asia. He said, the position gave him some experience in import/export and trading as he held the primary responsibility for long-range technical vision in introducing new products and entering new markets and was also responsible for identifying emerging market inefficiencies and hence developing suitable business plans, market-based business strategies, competitive and market analyses, and organizational requirements.
Convinced that a job was not for him, Mukherjee started his own company aged 18. “I love a challenge; everyone I knew told me I couldn’t start my own business, so I had to start one. They thought I was mad for leaving a $100,000 job. But I had to leave, the health benefits were awful,” Mukherjee smirked fiendishly, knowing fully well he had turned one of the most serious decisions of his life into something rather comical.
“I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I knew that I wanted to be famous,” Mukherjee said when asked what went through his mind as he started his own business. After spending two minutes with him, you know that Mukherjee is a cynosure – extravagant, emotional, impulsive, and totally irresistible; he loves getting his photographs in newspapers and making headlines with his public speeches. Mukherjee, it seems, has been attracting fame like a magnet. His registered trademark “Shubhayan” can be found on clothes, websites, record labels, health care products, and almost anything else that can be branded.
As we speak, Mukherjee’s attitude is reminiscent of the Moghul Emperors. Wearing a Calvin Klein jersey with unbranded boxer, he fully accentuates his contradicting personality. “When I was growing up, people used to say that the sun would never set on the British Empire. Shubhayan Industries has offices in Sydney and San Diego, the sun doesn’t set on my empire either.”
His brainchild, Shubhayan Industries, is a multinational holding company for all his ventures - Shubhayan Information Technologies & Corporate Services, Shubhayan Trading, Shubhayan Entertainment, Pushan Limited, Ma Sharda Sangeet Trust, DR Systems, and Neem America.
Shubhayan Trading, Mukherjee’s import/export company was founded to facilitate international trade between the United States and East Africa, Mukherjee said. He said this company deals with a variety of products including cellular phones, electronic goods, food, gifts and souvenirs, tools, semi-precious stones, designer jewelry and cotton textiles.
Shubhayan Entertainment, which is his next venture, will deal with music production and commercial movies.
Not content with running two companies, Mukherjee also has a growing medical transcription company and Pushan Limited, which was started by Mukherjee’s father, and is headquartered strategically in Nairobi, Kenya, the gateway to East Africa with over a decade of experience in large scale project management and commodities trading in East and Southern African countries.
No corporate empire can be complete without a charity, and so Shubhayan Industries, also has a Charitable Trust. Ma Sharda Sangeet Trust was founded by Mukherjee’s mother, Rajasree for the propagation of cultural values through Music, to organize cultural events and donate proceeds to deserving Charitable Institutions for providing health care facilities and subsistence to the poor and education for orphans and to uplift the less fortunate people in society.
“Lets talk about my main company - SICS,” Mukherjee exclaimed suddenly as I became engrossed in charitable work done by Ma Sharda Sangeet Trust.
Mukherjee’s main company, Shubhayan Information Technology and Corporate Services (SICS), is a professional software development, database management and web site development company that offers e-commerce solutions, web page design, web stores and custom software. SICS also has a team composed of experienced graphic designers and marketing experts specialized in corporate identity, branding and communication.
One major accomplishment for the company so far is the recent launch of its patented Kouklapop Technology. With the help of Kouklapop Technology, SICS has taken the existence of companies within the realms of the cyber-world to a whole new level. With this cutting-edge technology, SICS has been able to create unplagiarizable websites, where neither the contents nor the source code can be stolen - a blessing for companies that spend millions in marketing campaigns only to have their text and graphics plagiarized by a competitor.
Created and first tested with the help of Indian Institute of Technology students, Kouklapop Technology has created a wave in the field of Information Technology. In October 2003, SICS launched its next generation sites. Based on Kouklapop Technology, these pioneer sites, introduced voice activated navigation to web browsing for the first time in the United States - No Keyboard; No Mouse; Only a Microphone is required to navigate through these sites. These sites were primarily created to enhance web browsing for the elderly and handicapped. The voice activation is able to distinguish between world accents and can handle 8 major languages in the world.
Since SICS is a minority owned company, in the United States, SICS offers 50% discount to other minority owned businesses, non-profit institutions, government agencies (including U.S. armed forces, both retired and serving marines, air force staff, etcetera) and educational institutes for the services that they provide.
SICS is offering jobs to people with or without any previous experience. Persons with no previous experience are usually best suited to work in marketing and sales. Benefits include 30 days paid vacation to any destination in the world and transfer options to any of the 9 overseas branches. “Our account executives work as and when they feel, and put in anywhere from 2 hours to 80 hours a week”, Mukherjee said. “We have no problem if someone wishes to work from home, or work part-time while still in school.”
Persons with previous experience in Information Technology or Art can apply for the following positions:
• Creative Artists
• Database managers and programmers
• Graphic Designers
• Software developers
• Source code programmers and debuggers
• Web Designers
Depending on the need, SICS hires as either permanent staff or for contract projects.
For more information, or to apply for open positions, contact Mukherjee at work@shubhayan.org or apply online at www.shubhayan.org |
