‘It was about survival’: Boy who stitched for ₹5 now earns ₹5 lakh/month

Access to the internet changed the course of Durgesh Ojha’s life. Now, he’s working to ensure people in remote parts of India can benefit from it the same way he did.Durgesh Ojha went from a tailor’s apprentice in a small town of India to a tech founder.The son of a carpenter from a small town in Madhya Pradesh, Ojha, 36, grew up with limited resources. His entry into the digital world came when a computer training centre opened in his hometown of Guna — an opportunity that would shape his future. From these humble beginnings, he went on to found Hybrid Internet.“Main ek bahut hi gareeb parivar se aata tha (I came from a very poor family),” he said over a phone call from Indore, where he is now based.Early days of earningOjha’s entrepreneurial mindset became apparent very early on. He began working early, driven necessity as much as curiosity. As a young schoolboy, while still in Class 5, he would visit a neighbour’s house to watch TV. The neighbour, a tailor, started giving him busywork as he watched television — “I learned how to sew on buttons, stitch buttonholes, etc,” he recalled. Class 10, Ojha had learned to stitch shirts, pants, blouses, entire articles of clothing. He would earn ₹10 for a pair of trousers, and ₹5 for a shirt.To earn more and contribute to his family’s income, he started taking on more tailoring work during the busy wedding season. “I would go to other tailors in the vicinity and work for them,” said Ojha.His wish to earn also drove him to seek other avenues of income. A relative of the tailor was a cameraman, and Ojha requested him to take him along on assignments. “When I saw the camera, I was so curious. I asked him to let me work with him. I helped him, working as an assant to figure out lighting etc,” he recalled.Introduction to computersSomewhere between tailoring and photography, Ojha discovered the joy of computers.An old photo shows Durgesh Ojha at his home office.When he was in Class 8, Ojha’s elder brother told him about a computer training centre that had opened in their town. Ojha enrolled in a basic 6-month course.“Mujhe computer chalane mein bahut maza aata tha. Ye vo pehli kaksha thi jahan pe main time se pahunchta tha (I love computers, this was the first class where I would reach on time),” said the founder of Hybrid Internet.He did not just learn how to operate computers, he also learned hardware and repairing computers – skills that would later help him land his first job.His first small businessBut before he dropped out of college, worked a couple of jobs, and founded his now-successful company, Ojha also witnessed failure.In 2009, he teamed up with a friend to open a cyber cafe and computer repair shop in Guna. “It was March 9, 2009, specifically. I still remember the date because it was such a big event of my life,” he told me.Durgesh Ojha still has a picture of the invitation cards that went out when he opened a cyber cafe in Guna, Madhya Pradesh.To start the cyber cafe, a teenaged Ojha took a few loans. His father, a carpenter, made the furniture.The business venture, unfortunately, did not work out for Ojha and his friend. For one thing, the privately-funded venture was soon beset with financial difficulties. “We had to return the money, and it takes time to set up any business,” he said. It shut down within a year.The quest to earn moreAt this point, I tell Ojha that I’m very impressed with his enterprising nature. He laughs.“For you, it may be enterprise. For me, it was just the need to earn money,” he said. “It was about survival, about earning money to survive. I just wanted to do something to earn. I remember I would save up little little to pay my tuition fee.”It was the need to earn more that drove Ojha to drop out of college and look for a job. After all, he had to pay back the money he had taken as loan for his cyber cafe.At a friend’s recommendation, he reached Ahmedabad in 2010 to look for a job. Within a couple of days, he found a job, thanks to his previous expertise in computer hardware. He earned ₹7,500 per month in this role.“This was another turning point in my life. This is where I learned how businesses are run. It was a big company in a big city, and I observed closely how things happened there,” he said.An entrepreneur at heartBut Ojha is an entrepreneur at heart, and he soon felt the call to start his own business again.After a couple of years on the job, he realised that he wanted to try running a business again. late 2012, he was back in Guna.“That’s when I started my business again. This time, I called it Hybrid Computer Solutions and Security Services,” he said. “Last time it was Hybrid Computer Solutions and Cyber Cafe. This time we added security solutions.”In 2012, Durgesh Ojha launched Hybrid Computer Solutions and Security Services in Guna.In this iteration, Ojha focused on CCTV cameras and other security services. This was in addition to the computer repair services they offered even the first time around. This time, the business was more successful – but Ojha still wanted more.The beginning of Hybrid InternetUp until this time, Ojha had focused on computers. In 2014, he shifted focus to the internet.“It was in 2014 that I got to know that internet can be provided wirelessly,” he said. “I was curious and wanted to do something internet related.”“So it was in 2014 that I started researching and exploring. At that time, even Google did not have much information on how to become an ISP or an Internet Service Provider.“I spoke to people. I got in touch with a company that provided internet wirelessly. I went to Indore too… and it was in April 2015 that I changed my company to Hybrid Internet,” said Ojha.What is Hybrid Internet?I asked Ojha to explain to me, in very simple terms, what Hybrid Internet actually does.“You have WiFi connection at home, right? Probably from a company like Airtel. We are a company like Airtel. We are WiFi providers. But our reach is more in the remote parts of India. And our network is slightly different from Airtel,” he breaks it down for me.“Airtel will provide internet to your home through fibre optics cables, through wires. We do it with wires and also wirelessly. Wireless is our USP,” he explains.“Because we focus on wireless internet, our focus is more on the remote areas. We have a presence in Mizoram, Manipur, Arunachal, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir. Areas where there is no internet or the network is bad,” said Ojha.Durgesh Ojha is now bringing internet to remote parts of IndiaA success story in more ways than oneIt has been more than a decade since Hybrid Internet launched. It was with this company that Ojha found financial success as well as professional satisfaction.Asked if he draws a salary as the founder, he answers in the affirmative. “For the last couple of years, I have been drawing a salary of between ₹3 to 5 lakh every month,” he revealed.For Ojha, monetary success is only part of the story. As a child whose life was changed computers and the internet, he is now in a uniquely privileged position where he can touch lives providing access to the internet in remote, rural areas.He tells me of a school for orphans in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, which was completely cut off from the world due to no network. Ojha and his team managed to set up wireless internet in the area, and students there can now study online.“This is a place where even phone networks are not available. But because of Hybrid Internet, students have access to the internet,” he says.Last year, Hybrid Internet also took on the mammoth task of providing internet to 300 hospitals in Ladakh as part of the National Health Mission. “Out of these, approximately 250 are hospitals that are getting internet for the first time ever,” Ojha said.“The government took out a tender and we got the project. It’s a very difficult project because of the area’s remoteness. There is little infrastructure,” he explained. “We are a small company, so it’s a big deal for us too.”(Also read: Indian dad wears borrowed suit for first-ever flight, son’s emotional post moves internet)